Mother's day is always a very special day for me. I get spoiled all day long! I am able to reflect on the impact my own mother has had on my life, and feel like part of "the club" of moms who get just one day each year to be honored for all that we do.
Here is my favorite picture of me and Lilly this weekend at Rick's wedding. And how fitting to get such a great mother-daughter picture just in time for Mothers' Day!
So, for as much as I would like to honor myself this Mothers' Day, I can't help but honor some very special moms.
Through my work, I encounter so many special moms. These moms, the moms to the kids who I have had the opportunity to be a part of their very special lives, these moms are some of the most remarkable ladies I have ever met.
This is a group to which I know I do not belong...there are things that these moms have had to deal with that I may never understand. But, I do recognize how special, how strong, and how fabulous these women are.
I found this passage on a site of a family who has a child with special needs, and from what I can see, this really does say it all for these ladies...
Why moms of kids with special needs are, well, special...
1. Because we never thought that "doing it all" would mean doing this much, but we do do it all--and then some.
2. Because we discovered patience that we never knew we had.
3. Because we are willing to do something 10 times, 100 times, or 1,000 times if that's what it takes for our kids to learn something new.
4. Because we have heard doctors tell us the worst, and we've refused to believe them. Take THAT, naysaying doctors of the world.
5. Because we have bad days, breakdowns, and bawl-fests, and then we pick ourselves up and keep right on going.
6. Because we gracefully handle the stares, the comments, and the rude remarks (well, mostly gracefully).
7. Because we manage to get ourselves together and out the door looking pretty damn good. Heck, we even make sweatpants look good!
8. Because we are strong. Man, are we strong! Who knew we could be this strong?!
9. Because we aren't just moms, wives, cooks, cleaners, chauffeurs, and women who work. We are moms, wives, cooks, cleaners, chauffeurs, women who work, physical therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, teachers, researchers, nurses, coaches, and cheerleaders. Whew!
10. Because we work overtime every single day.
11. Because we also worry overtime, but we work it through. Or we eat chocolate, or Pirate's Booty, or gourmet cheese (which aren't reimbursable by insurance as mental-health necessities, but should be).
12. Because we are more selfless than other moms. Our kids need us more.
13. Because we give our kids with special needs endless love, and we still have so much love left for our other kids, our husbands, our families. And, our hairstylists, of course.
14. Because we inspire one another in this crazy blogosphere every single day.
15. Because we understand our kids better than anyone else--even if they can't talk; even if they can't gesture; even if they can't look us in the eye. We know. We just know.
16. Because we never stop pushing for our kids.
17. Because we never stop hoping for them, either.
18. Because just when it seems like things are going OK, they're suddenly not OK, but we deal. Somehow, we always deal--even when it seems as though our heads or our hearts might explode.
19. Because when we look at our kids, we just see great kids--not kids with cerebral palsy/autism/down syndrome/developmental delays/whatever.
To all moms...Happy Mothers' Day!!!!!!!!
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