A wonderful reminder

I read this blog post at Broken Body/ Whole Spirit and thought it was such an amazing post, I just had to share (with permission from the author, of course).   The author of the blog, Misty, has an amazing story of life to tell that you can read here .  Her words were an awesome reminder to me today and I wanted to share them with everyone that follows our blog, but especially other moms who have the blessing of having a child with spina bifida in their life.  Enjoy!




Milestones


Posted on January 26, 2011 by Misty


There seems to be a recurring theme in some of the blogs I’ve been reading lately. I’ve been reading about late milestones, and worries about when or if they’ll ever be met. I wish I could reach everyone and tell you how much these things just won’t matter to your children. I have no idea when I learned to hold my head up, or roll over, or sit up by myself, or crawl (in fact, I’m not sure I ever crawled at all). I don’t know when I said my first word, or what it was. I don’t know when I learned my numbers, or when I learned to read. Thing is, I can do it now, and it doesn’t really matter to me that I was late. I’m sure I was late for most of it, but I found my way. I’m sure I worked harder than my spinally typical older brother did (thanks for the term, n3rdchick!), but I don’t remember much of it. For me, its just some stuff my parents say happened when I was little. I wasn’t bothered by being late, or working harder. I just wanted my toys, and they were across the room, so I figured out how to get them….without my legs.






My mom will tell you that I’m stubborn. She’s right. I think all the extra hard work made me that way. I’ve always been the girl that “can do it myself” even if it looks impossible, and its not impossible until I hurt myself or discover I’m too short! Seems those top cabinets don’t get any closer no matter how far I stretch my arm. Sigh…






What I’d like to say here, is that ten years from now, your kids won’t care that it took them FOREVER to roll over, or crawl on all fours, or say their first word. They’ll care that you stuck with them while they tried, and because you did the extra work with them, they can do it now. I know you guys work SO hard for results, and the progress is SO slow, but you’re doing a great thing for your kids. Keep with it, but don’t watch the calendar so much. They’ll get there when they get there, and if you’re busy watching the calendar, you just might miss it!