Letters
It’s been a while since my last blog and I realize I’ve been blogging less over here since I started the DADvocate Project. It’s not that I don’t have tons to say it’s just that I have so much going on and I can’t seem to get everything I want to get done, done. My next big project over here is to get my video of Post SDR edited and uploaded. I also have an interview I did with Haley about the next book she wants to write about the SDR and she and Raye Raye have started writing it. I’m going to write an accompaniment to this book this time, we really want it to be a resource for families who are going through any surgery like this. It’s not just scary for the kids it’s scary for the parents too and it’s terribly emotionally draining. I’m still not over the significant impact it has had on my life.
So what prompted me to write tonight was sitting down at the computer. Haley had left her profile up and the letter she typed today. I thought I had mentioned this in a previous blog post but I can’t find it now….prior to the surgery Mel, Haley and I took a little trip up to Gwinnett and met a boy who had had the surgery when he was three. His involvement was slightly different from Haley’s but they are similar, and they are the same age, and I think Haley really enjoyed meeting another person, a boy, who looked and moved similarly to her. It turns out the boy needed to have a surgery this summer too and he just had it the other day.
Haley decided to write a letter to him. It is up on my computer now and I’m going to save it so we don’t loose it but while it’s not the first letter she has written it is the first letter she has written to a boy. It’s interesting as it reflects a question spelled by her “cweshin” from her experience with surgery =”can you walking or no?” and a hint of excitement “my mom thinks we mite see echoth agan soon.” I have to admit that I find it fascinating that Haley was compelled to write the letter and connect with someone who is like her and going through the same things.
By the way Haley has recovered from the surgery and is doing so incredibly well that she has even developed a 7 year old mouth calling me a “Know it all,” telling us she hates us and wishes she had another family and the other typical seven year old stuff. I think we’ll be in for a long year but I’m excited to see how she develops her independence she’ll have so much more freedom to do so because it will be easier for her to keep up. I think she’ll feel she’s struggling at first but it won’t take her long and she’ll be rocking along with the rest of the second graders. Of course there be some struggles but that’s to be expected.
