We all have an idea of what our life is going to look like when we have kids. Unfortunately, things don’t always go to plan. I’m sure a lot of parent’s experience times of uncertainty and disappointment when things don’t pan out. For us and a lot of other autism parents, we became overwhelmed by emotions and grieved the life we thought we would live with our children.
When certain things seem so difficult to achieve for so long without any glimpses of hope you begin to believe and even learn to accept, they may never happen.
It’s torture and a slap in the face every time you witness your child struggling and see other kids and families living the life you’d hoped for.
You begin to put up walls and try to live in your own bubble to shield yourself from the devastation but unfortunately, it’s unavoidable.
Yes, life may be slightly different to what we had anticipated but never say never and never give up!
We are now experiencing major milestones and precious little moments that at one stage thought may never happen.
Early on both of our two children were pretty much non-verbal and there was a time we thought we would never hear their voices or hear them call us mum and dad. Their speech is still limited but has progressed so much. It’s surreal every time we hear them and we truly celebrate every word.
My husband and I were both super sporty and just assumed we would produce sport star kids. Initially playing sport has been the furthest from our minds but they are now both showing more interest participating, enjoying classes and literally shooting and kicking goals.
Surprisingly after enduring years of broken sleep and co-sleeping dependence we have finally broken the cycle and both kids are now taking themselves up to their own beds to sleep.
The littlest things are the biggest and the best like Madi just brushing my hair. Those moments I always dreamed of but thought she would never care.
It’s a fine line and mentally becomes more difficult because you don’t want to get your hopes up to be devastated again but also need to remain open and optimistic.
I thought they’d never have a friend or a conversation on the phone, not really know what love was or any fun at all.
I can now look in their eyes and see it on their faces, the most important thing is their happiness not people, plans or places.
It’s taken a lot of help, patience, persistence and hard work but we are now experiencing things we never thought were possible.
We’ve been thrown curve balls and driven down roads we never knew existed but it’s certainly made every unexpected turn and victory sweeter than you’ll ever know.
A simple word or goal is the greatest gift of all.
