“The winds of change….” Whomever wrote this line was unaware of its reach. For many, the winds of change have been far from subtle. Days previously filled with negotiating steps connected in a direction neatly if not roughly planned. Sights seen, destination set. Brightness abounds, formulations and readjustments or tweaks occur only as needed. You reasonably illustrate the future for yourself, your spouse, your family.
Then diagnosis. Not to be read with the drama of pounding drums, thunder and lightening overhead and all the world’s gone dark. However diagnosis certainly does excavate the neatly laid foundation for all you knew about families, children, raising a child. New definitions come into play, words…a collection of phrases you never thought you’d know the true meaning of: feeding tube, Trisomy 21, left frontal lobe, right frontal cleft, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, AFO.
But here we are. All collecting ourselves in a place previously unfamiliar, slowly warming in its wrap of comfort in knowing there are others as us…feeling blinded, sideswiped, unraveled, and slowly picking ourselves up. Educating ourselves and those who surround us. Hopeful to find the answers we seek. Embracing the loves that have brought us to this new place, this new space…
The winds of change have blown and brought us to this world previously unseen. To a place we’d only heard of. To a place with a strange combination of beauty and frustration, revealing, yet modest. Wherever we are in our journeys, whether admiring the strength of our children to navigate their challenges or finding ourselves in the space of ‘survival’, the winds of change have brought us here…with and for the ones we love the most.
How have you been blown here?