Dear One – you have just heard the diagnosis, and you're
trying to process jargon that you don’t understand, and prognoses and acronyms
you can’t follow. You do know that when “special” is used to describe your
child’s “needs” that it is not a compliment. You are sad, and angry, and
guilty, and scared. You are heading into a lonely, dark place. I know, because
I have been there, and I am here to tell you that despite the fact that you
fear that there is no way out, there is. I am not saying it will be easy, or,
that when you emerge you will be the same person or in the same place that you
left behind, but that’s okay. In fact, that may even be the point of the
journey, and one day not only will you be able to see that, but you may find it
in your heart to be grateful for it.
Not that I claim to have found my way out completely yet,
either. But I am, slowly, trudging and clambering up the other side of the
crevasse, after years of stumbling through the rocky terrain at the bottom. I am making my way back to the light from the ineffable darkness, and
it is made so glorious by knowing its absence.
Keep going Dear Heart. Just keep finding the next step
ahead, that’s all you need to do for now. Your child needs you. Not the child
you thought you had, but the one right there with you, who is so much more
amazing and extraordinary than the paper doll of your imagination. Our
collective concept of what a person should be is so superficial and dull
compared to the glorious, incandescent souls of our children. And your child
will teach you so much more about who you are and the amazing things of which
you are capable.
Your child will help you to tap into the most spectacular
superpower you never knew you had: your superpower is Love. And your love is
fierce and true, and it will see you through anything if you trust it.
