Dear Addie,
It's that time of year again baby girl, where we have a whole day dedicated to reflecting on the reasons for thankfulness in our lives, all this while eating mamas' favorite dinner (score!) It’s Thanksgiving! Show me turkey!
This year we changed our game and decided to do turkey at the beach - you know, really hone in on the native land and roots of the main course, I mean haven’t you ever seen a pod of swimming turkeys off the coast?! OK I’ve never seen that either (and may have totally made all that up), but I know what you’re thinking Addie, turkey at the beach - brilliant!
Mimosas (sorry not for you), beach, turkey, tryptophan nap (fingers crossed) & pie - a schedule of perfection in my opinion. Now I’m no fool Addie, and predictability is still invited along with us so I know you will certainly ask for me to ”make a shicken” or ”make a tacos” or ”show me mac ‘n cheese!” I mean historically Thanksgiving is a harvest holiday so clearly you'd want to clear the crops of tacos and mac ‘n cheese right?! But all joking aside, for someone who once had no language at all and still struggles to communicate, those words in and of themselves are one of the many things we are beyond thankful for, so tacos it is! Add it to the menu!
This year I woke up well before everyone else (twinkle twinkle little stars were still in the sky Addie) and had a quiet cup of coffee, wrapped in an extremely cozy blanket on the couch. Just me, coffee and my thoughts. It’s in these moments when the daily race has yet to begin that I could just burst into tears thinking of just how blessed we have been. I will always own up to being an emotional mess.
It’s no secret that this journey could easily be defined as challenging, sleep deprived, and predictably unpredictable, but with those words all sounding somewhat, dare I say negative, there’s a healthy dose of gratefulness in them as well.
It’s all about perspective.
You see Ad, we have more than our fair share of challenges, just comes with the territory, but with that also comes the victories. Some big, some small, but consistent determination and a lot of hard work goes into each and every one of them. It’s true that most special needs families lay in wait for some of the traditional early milestones, making these accomplishments and victories when they finally occur a wee bit sweeter in my opinion. There’s blessings that even on our worst days we seem to always find something to celebrate and for that we are thankful.
Always find the good Ad.
Sleep deprivation...hard to find thankfulness here right? Well after years, I mean years of calling 11pm-2am a solid night's sleep, I’ve learned to really appreciate the value of a good night's rest. I feel wildly confident there isn’t a vacuum cleaner infomercial we haven’t seen Addie. But all joking aside we are blessed with a roof over our heads and a warm bed to sleep in and we never take that for granted.
The predictable unpredictableness, well this here keeps us on our toes and we are thankful that life is never boring to say the least!
With all we can define our journey as, there is so much more to be thankful for and the love and support given our way is simply priceless.
Our cup truly runneth over.
You see Addie, it’s on a journey like this that you realize family is so much more than blood and so much bigger than we could have ever imagined with loving dedicated friends, teachers and therapists. Seeing love and encouragement come from all areas of our lives and people genuinely embracing our crazy structured chaos is truly something we will forever be grateful for.
So this Thanksgiving I sat sipping my coffee, deep in thought about our journey, and while challenging as it is, I was reminded of so much joy & love we have and for that we are so thankful.
Love you.
Mom
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