Monday, April 25, 2011

Week 13 Theme - Big to Small

Their walk through the terminal was put on hold as they stopped to help their daughter. As she was yelling “Hey, Hey, Hey,” they gently put their arms around her to calm her down. Her strong, long legs kicked high in the air as she threw her upper body violently back against the back of the wheelchair. Next, her hand threw off the earphones that had been supplying music to her, which in the past helped to keep her calm. “It’s okay, Jordyn. Where’s Jordyn? Come back Jordyn. Do you want more music? “her mother asks in a soothing voice. Jordyn laughs loudly as she kicks and throws herself into the wheelchair several more times. Other travelers in the terminal slow down and look at Jordyn having this seizure.


In today’s society children like Jordyn are accepted, but the majority of people don’t understand how hard and demanding caring for a child with disabilities can be...unless, of course, they are living it. As a society, when a new child is welcomed into the world we don’t wonder what will be wrong, or go wrong, with the child. Most of the time new parents think of good things for their child, such as first steps, running around the yard, struggles of potty training, saying mommy and daddy, walking hand in hand with their toddler. What parent hasn’t bragged about little Suzy or Johnny saying “I Love You Mommy” for the first time, or hung their child’s artwork from the ‘fridge.


Traditionally, young couples who marry today hope for the “white picket fence, family home, good jobs, dog, and a cute little boy and girl” to make their lives complete. Do they ever stop to think how this American Dream can end up totally shuffled in the blink of an eye? They don’t hold all the cards. They may ask for it all, but in the end you play with what you’re dealt.


The pain of childbirth can be terrible, but it’s a good pain…because of the end results…and because the pain is soon forgotten. (Female perspective.) When that newborn child leaves the warmth of her mother’s womb and breaths that new air for the first time, and cries as she is wrapped up, that child is totally depending on her parents to love, nurture, hug, feed, and clothe her. Not just through the good times, but through the bad times too. That child didn’t ask for “problems”, nor did the parents. Every child deserves the best. Accept them for who they are. I believe parents are given what they can handle, and it takes extra special parents to take care of children with special needs.

1 comment:

  1. You handle this very nicely. You start with a scene, a small slice of life, and then work it through several levels of bigness: parenthood, society's acceptance, people's expectations and dreams, the ground zero of biology and birth.

    I can't imagine any of the biggies that you might have missed and can't imagine a better starting place to balance all that big material on.

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