An Ordinary Mom's Musings

I was talking with a medical professional recently that I have been working with. I was trying to help her understand the challenges that families with special needs face. The topic of the future for my son came up.

Frankly it was a bit jarring.

You see, I get so caught up in the day-to-day of just trying to survive and help my child, somehow the last 15 years have gone by.

I know we all get caught up in the day to day. But the idea of

perhaps,

maybe,

not being caught up in the day-to-day of medications, behaviors, school district drama, chores, doctors appointments and everything else? That is unsettling and so wild a thought that I can scarcely believe that one day-

That might be my life.

For many years moms of older boys with special needs have told me it would get better. That things were going to change.

Full confession?

I absolutely positively did not believe them. In fact, I thought they were crazy and delusional.

Things were so bad at that time, and I was too close. My greatest real hope that I didn’t feel was a “pie in the sky” hope, was that we would just manage to survive. That is as much as I could hope for, and the long years ahead stared me down.

I couldn’t look beyond right here, right now.

Time has gone on, and we have survived. Sometimes just barely and sometimes with a tiny reserve.

And then like magic, change entered in.

Hope entered in.

While we are still far from the point where my son will live on his own one day, we are finally making strides in that direction.

He’s not melting down all the time for hours. Not sleeping the day away. He is passed his last semester of classes and is excited for school to start next year. I haven’t been to a school district meeting in a while. He’s more responsible and is able to control his temper and voice his feelings.

There just might be light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope again that one-day fighting school districts and insurance companies will be a distant memory. For that, I give thanks.