Finding, and receiving the emotional, the social support you needed, in the trials of your lives, translated…
After reading over the assessment report for Strong, what impacted us the most was not his diagnosis of autism, but of how his developmental age, was lower than I’d expected, I’d thought, that through all the early intervention programs, he could’ve, developed better, but he didn’t! Was it that we’d not spent as much time as we should have with him? Or maybe, we’d, used the wrong methods, to keep him from, progressing fast enough.
An assortment of negative thoughts overcame me, it’s, as if, I was, taken by the waves, to the depth, of the deep, dark ocean, suddenly, surrounded, by the darkness of the waves of the seas.
It was his physical therapist who’d, discovered that something wasn’t quite right with me, she’d, immediately reminded me, that compared to how the assessments showed how Strong is going to be a vegetable, he’d, progressed a lot; and, Daddy Strong also, stroked my hair continually, and told me that it’s not as bad as I imagined it to be, that we’d, both worked hard; and, don’t know if Strong was hungry, or suddenly, understood what we were, discussing, he’d, hugged me tight, at Daddy Strong’s requests, and, with a kiss attached too. A friend whom I’d met after I set up my bookstore consoled with me, that although we couldn’t, decide how far Strong was progressing, but we can, steady ourselves, and, melting down from time to time, is absolutely, necessary too.
I’d originally wanted the psychiatrists to diagnose Strong as autistic or not, and yet, the psychiatrist not only just observed Strong, but also heard me spoke of the darkest thoughts that I have, guided me out, to not focus on whether or not Strong is autistic, but instead, to focus my attention of ALL the better qualities that he had, and compared where he currently is, to where he was before, that, so long as there are, progressions, everything was, more than worth it.
I’d wanted to, go through the motions of filing for Strong’s handicap manual, and, I’d found a friend, to come to the shop, to take a photo of Strong, and it wasn’t until the person arrived, did I realize, that he didn’t offer such a service, but was willing, to, drop EVERYTHING he had going on, spent half an hour, to photograph Strong, to touch up the photo, to develop a cute headshot of my son.
The kindness from all around us, gave light to the darkness of the depth of the oceans, we’re still, floating in the oceans, but, we’re able to, stop ourselves, from drowning in the trenches now.
After a few days, I’d continued taking Strong to the doctors, and, gone through the process of filing for his handicapped status, like the divers, coming back up onto the surfaces slowly, to return our lives back to normal, picked up “The Little Book of Kindness” by Russell, on the first chapter, the writer asked us to, “treat ourselves kindly”, then, others, as well as our environments, do good, without wanting anything in return, the author wrote, “don’t underestimate the good will. Kindness is not a weakness, those who are strong, has the abilities to show kindness, and, those who showed kindness need to, love and forgive, seeing the good things about oneself, as well as others as well.”
I’m truly grateful, toward all the friends and families I have, who’d shown us the kindness as we needed, to make my weak heart become, stronger.
And so, this, would be, the importance of having a good social support system, and this social support system can be made up of your next-of-kin, your friends, or, complete strangers you come into contact with, and, just pass along the kindness that was shown to you, to others you encounter in this world, to never let this cycle of kindness stop flowing.
Life, the Obstacle Course 