Today is a good day to celebrate my child

When you have a little kid with special needs

time passes by agonizingly slowly.

You are always waiting...
watching...
wondering when your child will do things.
You can't even imagine
that day when your child
will be walking or saying words
because you are mired in the delays
and the expert appointments
and your own distress.
When, you want to know.
When?

You go through life

not quite believing this is your life,

trying so hard to be a cheerleader

and to cherish this child who needs

you so much

even as you cry in the shower

or in the car

or wherever.
As your child grows older,
moving at his pace, not yours or anyone else's,
you grow more patient
and less anxious.

Your child makes progress.

Real progress.

The sadness is less sharp.

And if things don't happen,

you are not crushed
because you know now that
someday they could.

There is no timeline.
Or maybe they never will

but you have a healthy amount of

acceptance in your heart,
and it keeps you strong.
And most of all, you have
an incredible child, and you know it.

But then one day you realize
that maybe you haven't been celebrating
as much as you should. You see a photo
and realize just how grown up
your child is getting, that the years
are flying by and wow, he sure
has come a long, long way.

This is that photo.