Out There

     The other day I wrote a letter asking our school community if there were any parents who wanted to meet together to talk about having additional needs kids in the school system. I have not had many responses but did not think there would be many--- I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just too hard to keep thinking about, talking about, writing about--- you get the idea. When I wrote the letter, I described my daughter and her challenges and so thought that I'd better inform her about what I was doing. She objected to everyone knowing it all. I protested, saying that her school speech on Purple Day (Epilepsy Awareness Day) was pretty much the same thing. She cried and told me that she wished that she was her sister. I cannot blame her. Her sister does most things easily and well, is liked by most of her peers and seems to have it all. While I cannot claim that I never wished the same for her, I explained that she would not be who she is if she were just like her sister. While I would not wish her learning disabilities and seizure disorder on anyone, I would never want my daughter to be anybody other than who she is: a sweet, chatty, curious, curly-headed angel who loves sushi, Justin Bieber and making money--- a helpful, kind, hat-wearing girl who yearns for friendship and loves her family. She is also becoming a teenager. She informed me that there will be no blogging about her once she is in high-school. This defiant pronouncement confirms that she is typical in many ways according to my close friend, and that she will cause us no end of teenage-parental conflict. Anyway, it's out there. I can't help thinking that there is strength in numbers and that  mutual support, information and education will also make us all stronger. That's what I'm hoping for anyway....