Momma Knows Best

Like any self-respecting student of the English language, I’ve developed a love for clichés. Many of these overused sayings don’t make literal sense, and that’s part of what I love about them…they can be interpreted differently and applied to most situations if I just try hard enough. Everything happens for a reason. Treat others as you would have them treat you. Home is where the heart is. It’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon.  It takes a village...

I became a mommy nearly three years ago, the day my sweet little girl came into this world. I wouldn’t trade this opportunity for anything, and I feel deeply blessed to have been trusted with the responsibilities of teaching, protecting, loving and caring for her. I’m beginning to think that we are chosen for certain tasks based on what we can handle…whether we know it or not.

Had you asked me if I thought I could survive parenting a special needs child four years ago, my answer would have been a resounding no. It’s amazing to me how much I’ve grown and changed in the past few years. What I would have deemed impossible then is now reality. The Hubbs and I have stood together, taking on the world as a team, and we’re better off for it. Sure, there are moments when we are overwhelmed – we’re not superheroes, after all. My self-imposed challenge these days is to step back and look at the big picture, rather than focusing on the small parts. When I do this, I see beyond a shadow of a doubt that we’re making it. It’s not always pretty, but our little family is chugging along and progress is being made.

I posted last night about our recent ST troubles, and I feel I should mention my unease over the big decision we made yesterday. Though I was confident that we were doing the right thing, I found myself unable to sleep and feeling queasy while I waited to hear back from our service coordinator. Upon waking this morning, I realized my stomach was in huge knots. What if we were doing the wrong thing?

I’m happy to say that we are apparently following the right path, because everything is falling into place already. Our service coordinator called this morning to let me know that there is an opening at a hippotherapy clinic about twenty minutes from our home. They’ll be able to see The Princess twice a week to replace our old ST, possibly starting as soon as this coming week. After The Princess’s positive experience last fall at the pumpkin patch, I’m confident that she will love this new treatment.

As I type this post, my stomach is slowly relaxing to its normal state. I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders, knowing that our service coordinator and other providers had some of the very same concerns about this ST as we did. They just didn’t voice them earlier because they wanted us to make our own decision about this person. It’s not just me. Other people have seen it too.

And the petty junior-high kid in me couldn’t be more relieved by the fact that I won’t have to inform the ST of this change…our service coordinator is handling that for us. Breaking up is hard to do, but everything happens for a reason.  It takes a village to raise a child, and we're just working to mold our village around her the best we can.