Perspective

When Peter was a baby I never really thought too much into the future. We were simply too busy trying to survive from day-to-day. Coping with the emotional rollercoaster of caring for a newborn with complex medical needs and grieving over losing the life you had imagined just doesn’t leave much time to think about life 5-10 years down the road!  But, here we are ten years later with Peter now in 4^th grade. 

What has taken me most by surprise is how many issues we deal with at school. I was always so focused on making sure that Peter’s medical and therapy needs were met that I never gave school much thought.  Homework and socialization issues, however, take up the majority of our current daily life. If there is one thing I’ve learned over the years though, it’s that you can only work on so many things at one time. Spending hours on homework every night doesn’t do anyone much good, especially if it ends in total frustration. The constant struggle of when to push harder and when to back off is always an issue in our house.

In dealing with these problems lately, I’ve thought back about when Peter was a baby and how he always achieved milestones like rolling over and crawling in his own good time. Remembering back is helping to keep things in perspective now. Issues like social maturity and eating normally are going to be accomplishments that he has to take the lead on. Once again, I have to let go of who I imagined my son would be at the age of ten. I can influence his values and nudge him in certain directions, but, in the end, he will have to find the motivation to achieve what he really wants out of life. It is my sincere hope that he reaches for the stars because I know what an amazing miracle of a person he is and how much he can achieve in life, if only he tries.

Click here to read more info about Dede and her family.