More than Words

  This last week I joined a support group for parents with children with special needs, which was highly recommended to me by Infant Development.

 One of the moms from the group had a story about being at the Children's Hospital with their 6 year old daughter, and noticing, in the waiting room, another mother and father with an infant, presumably with the same condition, newly diagnosed. She talked about realizing how far they'd come since they were in that position not that long ago.  The unknowns, the lost look, the devastation, it was all palpable. I know what she meant, I remember that day myself, burned into my memory, but more then that I could relate to her feeling; that she wanted to reach out and hug this mom, to let her know that she will get through it, and that it will be so much better then she thinks at this moment in time; to let her know that their challenges will be great, but the rewards far greater.  She mentioned that while she wanted to say all these things, she realized that what they were going through was all part of the process, and that the best thing she could do, was smile, and nod, and  that for those parents, knowing that someone else understands, seeing that their daughter was thriving...this was worth more then a thousand words.

  Back in August we were the parents with the recent diagnosis, facing all those unknowns;  and we met a little 5 year old girl and her family a few blocks away; she also has albinism. I didn't think her parents understood at the time just how much it meant to us to see their little girl thriving, and functioning normally, but most important; happily. Now I know, that they were the parents who had once been in our position, who remembered that day, and knew that what we needed most, could not be expressed in words.

 I know it was not even 7 months ago, but here I am thinking about how I wish I could go back and tell myself all about how great it is going to be, how much better it is then  what any of the Doctors told us to expect. I'm feeling this way already. Already we're miles from where we started...I cannot imagine how much further we'll be in 5-6 years...