My Quirky Kid- Will's Year

Dear Will,

2012 has been a rough year.
2012 hasn’t been very kind.

And tonight, I am so thrilled to say goodbye to 2012.

I hope he/she never returns.

Oh, Will. This year was so hard. I mean, just bone-chilling, back-breaking, bawl-your-eyes-out-five-times-a-week hard. I can say without a doubt this has been the hardest year of my life, thus far. But when I would think that I just couldn't take one more day of 2012, I would remember that you were doing so well, so maybe I could crawl through just one more day. Or maybe two. Thinking about your progress was the only way I made it through this year. That, and Duke's kind heart and smile that always seemed to pull me through the darkest of days. (And for your record, the challenges we had trying to help you were a cake walk in comparison with what the rest of the year had in store for us.)

But I’m writing this letter to you tonight to tell you that you made 2012 worth it. You, buddy. You did that. Your dad and I will always refer to this as “Will’s year”.

You started out this year as an out-of-sync little boy. You were so confused and angry and scared and frustrated all at the same time. But what you’ve accomplished in the last twelve months is an absolute miracle.

There have been so many times this year when I have thought about how precise Heavenly Father was when He created your spirit. This should come as no surprise to me, and should serve as a lesson that Heavenly Father creates all of His children’s spirits with as much focus and exactness. You were created with so much determination and passion for life and you give every single day 110%. You wake up every morning ready to run a marathon and each night you collapse into sleep because your little body just can’t keep going, although I’m sure if it could, your mind would still be commanding it. This internal drive has positively launched you into overcoming incredible obstacles this year. I’ve learned over and over again in 2012 the way we need to parent you is helping you channel and direct your passion. You have enough motivation and drive for three lifetimes. That’s why this year was so important. This. Your year. You move so quickly and had we not taken this year with as much prayer, fasting, and dedication, twelve months from now you could have been zooming in the opposite direction from where you are now.

We started the year in desperation. We were completely alone and had no support network and we needed to find help for you. And fast. I could feel you slipping through my fingertips and it was the most frightening feeling I have ever had as a mother. I know Heavenly Father gives special glimpses of inspiration to mothers, because their work is so important, and Will, I could feel God telling me (and Dad, too) that finding the right people to help you was the most vital thing I could do for you, for your life. How we handled this year with you, was going to completely alter the way the rest of your life would play out, for the better or worse.

So I refused to take no for an answer.

Your drive fueled me. I was your advocate and I needed to fight with every ounce of determination you had. I scoured books and websites and seemed to be in a never-ending prayer with Heavenly Father to help me know what to do. It was so clear in my mind what you needed, that there was no way I was not going to give that to you. The Lord blessed me to know exactly what to do when the opportunities presented themselves.

St. Kathryn came along. And then Parkwood came along. And then Miss Erin. And things just starting falling in place.

And you started thriving again.

It was the most incredible thing to witness for Dad and I. You learned to talk (and rethink all verbal communication) right in front of our eyes, every single day. At least once a week we would comment, “oh my gosh, can you believe he just said that? I wouldn’t have even believed he would be able to say that 1/3/6/8 months ago!”

You started this year (as a three year-old) understanding and speaking at a less than two year-old level. We were prepared and advised by professionals to hold you back for kindergarten, where you would likely be in a special needs class. We hoped that by second or third grade, the gap would be closed and you would be at an equal level of communication with your peers.

Six weeks ago, Mrs. Perich called me and said that in her class, she would put you “right in the middle” of the class in abilities. Average has never sounded so glorious in all my life.

I cried when I hung up the phone.

Later that week, Mrs. Heather and I had a parent/teacher conference where she praised you up and down and said more than once “Oh, he’s so ready for kindergarten!”

I cried when I left.

Will, it's only half way through the school year, but I can already say you are going to start kindergarten next year with all of your friends, and you likely will not have an IEP at all.

This is why you are a miracle.
You did this. You. You, did.

Will, I have so many more things to write about this year and I have about six posts waiting to be edited to add to the “My Quirky Kid” blog, but they will just have to wait for, yet, another day. But I want you to know the main reason I am writing all of this down is because I want to you know that you can do anything. And you’ve already proved it. And you will have this record forever. You have completely blown the statistics out of the water this year, and you likely won’t even remember this stage of your life. But you’ll have this record, in your hands, for the rest of your life that you have the power to overcome whatever obstacles come in your way. Whenever you need this in the next five, ten, twenty, forty years, you will know that even as young as a four year-old, you conquered insurmountable odds that could have paralyzed your life and dampened your dreams. But you never let them get the upper hand.

You did it then, and you can do it again. And again. And again.

And when you need this in the next five, ten, twenty, forty years, you will know that I was with you.

And that I fought with you. And that I’ll always be with you, during every obstacle of your life.

Will, I’m always going to be in the trenches with you.

You made this year worth it. This was your year.

Thank you for taking me along for the ride.

Love,
Mom

6

Loving you the way I do


I know we're gonna make it through



And I would go to the ends of the earth


'Cause darlin', to me that's what you're worth


Where you lead, I will follow


Anywhere that you tell me to


If you need, if you need me to be with you


I will follow where you lead


If you're out on the road


Feelin' lonely and so cold


All you have to do is call my name


And I'll be there on the next train


Where you lead, I will follow


Anywhere that you tell me to


If you need, if you need me to be with you


I will follow where you lead


I always wanted a real home with flowers on the window sill



But if you want to live in Washington DC, honey you know I will


You never know how it's all gonna turn out, but that's ok


Just as long as we're together, we can find a way


And where you lead, I will follow


Anywhere that you tell me to


If you need, if you need me to be with you


I will follow where you lead.








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Passover

I work with some really fun people (in fact, there's really only 2 people-out of 30- that I work with that I wouldn't want to hang out with outside of work) and one of my favorites is a young twenty-something named Brian. He is incredibly sarcastic and his voice is identical to Michael Cera. One night we were talking about religion, he being Jewish and I being a Mormon. Our conversation went something like this..

Me: you know, Mormons probably know more about Judaism than probably any other western religion.

Brian: oh, really?

Me: yeah, there are a lot of events that are important to us that revolve around Passover, so it's not uncommon for Mormons to host Passover dinners. I've even attended a few Hanukkah dinners.

Brian: oh, that's cool. I didn't know that.

Me: yeah, really the only difference is we believe Elijah already came.

Brian: yeah, I always thought it would be so awkward if Elijah came and he brought a date and all these years we've only been setting out one chair.

This is where I start laughing. The imagery is so hilarious to me. Someone write this for an SNL skit already!! Elijah comes with a date and everyone awkwardly sets out another place setting knowing that for centuries they've only counted on him coming as an individual....of course he'd have a date/wife!!!

In other news, I recently became a card-carrying member of the Muirbrook Female Gene Pool and had my first varicose vein removed at the old age of 27. Good thing being in that gene pool brings about a million other wonderful things:) but let this be a lesson to my female cousins...Look out! The veins...they're out to getcha!

And...I hit another major goal at work. Two days in a row of selling 4k (I was even the #1 seller one day) and on top of that I've gotten some incredibly kind compliments from coworkers this week. Never underestimate the power of a genuine compliment. I will remember these kind words for a very long time and its just another reason I just really love my job and the people I work with. Today I had a sweet conversation with a coworker that went like this:

Coworker: are you Mormon?
Me: yeah! How'd you know?
Coworker: I knew it! You're blonde and you're such a good baker!

This is me, breaking Mormon stereotypes, one day at a time (NOT).

I have realized that long, blonde curly hair is an anomaly in the East. I have at least one client every day ask me, is THAT your natural color? And when I say yes you can hear their audible sigh. Helps me sell a lot of clothes... They get to the register and say "the girl with the blonde hair helped me."