Our neighborhood is tucked away in a circle, surrounded on most sides by a golf course, with a charming stream and trees separating us from our back door neighbors.
When we first moved into our home, the road leading into our neighborhood was nothing more than a country lane, traveled only by those who lived out in the nether regions of our town.
But time is changing all of that. Our city, which before had been made up of generations of farmers, became the up and coming ‘hip’ place to live. And while our neighborhood remains secluded, the road leading to our neighborhood has become one of the city’s main means of getting from point A to point B.
Frustratingly, the original plans for our city, plans voted on and sustained by the citizens, changed behind closed doors and a busy city grew up around our neighborhood almost overnight.
The innocence of our town has made a shift to a more sophisticated way of life.
It has become apparent that the busy road connecting to our neighborhood poses a threat to a child who will one day crave freedom and sneak out of our home in hopes of finding it. The charming stream behind our home now brings shivers of worry when the spring runoff arrives.
It’s amazing how one’s perspective can change when viewed through life with a child with special needs.
We imagine moving to a new home, one in an established neighborhood where we know the traffic patterns won’t be changing. A home where backyards are separated by fences rather than streams.
But the reality is that neither the economy nor our bank account would support a move. Even lateral one.
Sometimes it feels that even the simplest of daily living becomes a weight on my shoulders when trying to keep Parker safe. Or just alive.
The weight of that worry can sink a soul if one isn’t careful.
And so I pull myself up by my bootstraps. I make plans. I control what I can and the rest I leave to God.
Who, now that I think about it, has yet to ever let me down.
You can find Tammy and Parker hanging out at their other blog, Praying For Parker as well as on Twitter where they are known as ParkerMama.