Sometimes I wonder about my biological, neurotypical children. I worry that we have short changed them by the choices that we have made as parents. I worry that they will be damaged or resentful, because we have demanded that they make hard sacrifices. We have expected them to share everything. We have dropped them off in Crazyland, with no directions for how to get back to where we came from. Oh yes. I forgot to tell you. We live here now.
Sometimes I think we look at them with our tired, half-crazed eyes. They see us grasping at anything that might heal trauma, or restore hope. They hear us saying, How dare you? You with your unscathed brain, your healthy body and soul...how dare you not live your best life? How dare you not do something wonderful?
They see firsthand what the rest of the children only hear about. Appreciate your dinner. There are children starving in another place. Be thankful for what you have. Lots of other kids have nothing. They see the gaps and the holes, created by want and need.
And then they go out and do it. They are amazing, and wonderful, and remarkable. Only they're not. They're the same as any other kid who has a sound mind, and body, and a hand up in the world. They just realize what a difference that makes, and they don't always take it for granted.
1 comment:
Such great thoughts. I have 2 bio and 3 adopted, 1 of whom we are estranged from. My two oldest are the bio kids and they have turned out amazing, despite, or even because of, the craziness we've lived for 12 years. I see God at work and know He has a master plan. Even when I couldn't see one minute in front of me.
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