Some days are hard.
Some days are scary. So many “unknowns”.
Some days are a whirlwind. Where we don’t really know if we are coming or going.
And then there are the days just like today.

Today I am thankful. I am thankful for a multitude of things, but specifically at this moment, I am thankful for my son’s team. Yes, team. It takes a big ol’ village, y’all.

His teacher. Speech Pathologist. His occupational therapist, and all the therapists in between.
A. VILLAGE.

I was going about my busy, heavily scheduled morning routine, while little man was in school. My phone pinged, (and per usual, I held my breath and read the notification aloud to myself, in a familiar state of self-reassurance). You do that when you are a parent and you’re not used to your child being away from you. Never mind in a pandemic, but I digress… we could be here all day on that one!

This particular jingle was alerting me to an email. And across the top it read my son’s SP’s (Speech Pathologist’s) name. If I said my stomach didn’t feel like a springtime field covered in butterflies, I’d be lying.
I felt knots forming, as I don’t regularly hear from her in the middle of class hours. I clicked on it to open, and inside was the best gift I could have gotten today: The Joy.

This sweet woman, who has been working hard with our little man for the last few weeks, simply wrote me to let me know just how much she LOVES Beckett’s company. She wanted to let me know that she “see’s” him, and that she is thrilled that he is there.

She wrote: ” I just wanted to tell you what a phenomenal speech session Beckett had today! We seriously had so much fun…”
And after giving me details about all the strengths he showed through the day, she continued with:

“It was a true blast, and my face hurt from smiling so much. 🙂 Thank you for sharing him with us!… He is sooo lovable, and his smile is the absolute BEST!”.

When I say I cried, I cried! Like, the ugly kind of tears that people make hysterical “meme’s” about on the internet. Ugly cry mode: go!

Some could have read this type of email and thought, “cool, he’s doing what he is supposed to do. Thank goodness.”. But in this house, EVERY step that we get to take forward is a celebration. Every step that we don’t have to fight 200% for something that should be given, is a win. And every time someone shows us that they SEE our son; that they LOVE him exactly the way he is, no questions asked, are the rare times that my faith in humanity is again restored.

Unfortunately, a supportive team, a caring set of Grandparents, an understanding group of friends or family tree are not always received, with individuals with various disabilities, whether those disabilities be physical, or unseen such as Autism. Thankfully, we have been blessed with people, such as you, reading this right this very second, that take the time to learn and to grow. To educate yourselves, just like us. It’s no secret that people are afraid of what they don’t fully understand. But I am here to tell you that there’s nothing to fear! Kindness is the cure, dear friends. Wrap it around you like a big blanket. I promise it will “fill your cup”.

There will be days that the “hard” and the “scary” come creeping back in and creep up on us. There will be nights that we stay up and worry of “what will be”. But for now, we let in the light and we celebrate being seen.
To know my son is to love him. And the minute you see that beautiful, bright shining smile, you’ll understand exactly what that SP was saying.

…”Thank you for sharing him with us.”.

It’s my life’s pleasure, and exactly what I am here promising to do.