Autism

Cerebral Palsy

Traumatic Brain Injury

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Cushing’s Disease

Speech Delayed

Attachment Disorder

Lupus

Down’s Syndrome

Multiple Sclerosis

Attention Deficit Disorder

Spinal Cord and Nerve Injury

Depression

Schizophrenia

Different

Weird

Useless

Draining

BLESSINGS, but definitely not burdens!

Over the course of the last five years, God has given me a new type of vision.  The visual clarity that sometimes only comes when you have a small glimpse into how someone else lives.  Even though our son’s healing journey continues, his day-to-day activities become less and less impacted by the injuries he received.

Not so for many of the wonderful families we have met while in the hospital waiting rooms or on Caringbridge.  This is something that I really took for granted prior to the day that changed our lives. I am embarrassed to admit, I never thought about the struggles that some families face.  I remember the moment the tidal shift occurred in my visual correction.

We sent Sawyer to the store to pick up something that we had forgotten.  He used his adapted bike to travel the few blocks to the store, and once there used the store’s mechanical cart.  A store employee came over and berated him for playing with something he didn’t need, calling him inappropriate names. Apparently, this man didn’t notice the AFO or the scars on Sawyer’s leg or the struggles he had getting off the cart.

Distraught when he returned from the store, the news he brought home caused the Momma Bear in me to erupt with Old Faithful geyser-like timing.  The problem was the same thing happened at two other businesses within the same week.  After many tears and few choice words, I was exhausted battling stupidity.

I was disgusted with humanity.  I was sick of people and their stares and their lack-of-understanding.  Remember Kandy, this will be temporary in Sawyer’s life. That small realization straight from God completely changed my heart and my prayers.  Back then, I had no idea that we would still be having surgeries now, but I knew some families wouldn’t have the same results that we would someday have.

After feeling the sting of discrimination and ignorance, my prayers changed. I began to ask God to see each person the way He does.  The list at the top of this blog represents real people who have touched my life.  Each one of them has blessed my life in ways so much more than I can explain.

Some of the greatest of these has been the ability to live in the moment, to love someone for whom they are, and to never see what you can’t do, only what you can.  Those lessons will change your life. They did mine.