The past few weeks have been so bittersweet! Yes, Jake turning three tomorrow is huge but for us it means even more! It means beginning another journey and saying goodbye to the past. When your child is given a diagnosis at birth it truly is an unexplainable experience that unless you’ve gone through it you will never understand. You have a whirlwind of emotions and unanswered questions of ‘what will happen?’
You will have friends and family tell you it’s going to be okay, don’t worry he’s going to be fine and they mean that and it’s so kind but deep down you think ‘you don’t know and you don’t understand’. You will worry that you will never figure things out or if you are doing the right things for your child.
They send an abundance of people to you to test your child and tell you what’s wrong with them and what they can or can’t do to help and it’s beyond stressful.
However, our story is a little different because we were lucky enough to have been blessed with Mrs. Gina.
She came into our lives and let us know that Jake would be fine and hit the milestones we were so worried about. She listened to me cry and ask a million questions about his future and she ever so patiently answered them and gave us a positive outlook each week.
You see, she is one of the trailblazers that I look up to because her adult son also has DS and is excelling in everything! She has gone through all of the emotions we were feeling and helped us realize that it was normal and that in time things would work out.
Words will never say enough about the love she has shown our family and especially Jake and now that Jake is turning three, we will have to say goodbye because our time is up and she will be with another family but I know she has him ready for his next adventure and I know that he will be fine and for that I am so very thankful.
(On a side note, when she left today I heard him say Gina for the first time)