Re: Is this common? and my Brag Poll!

May 24, 2003

Jenyfer,

First of all, Pippin sounds like a wonderful baby. She must be so

adorable being so tiny and doing all the things she is doing. I so

miss those baby days! My kids are teens now - my daughter is

graduating high school in 10 days!

Now, for the feeling a bit isolated part: I totally understand and

relate to it. And I have lived this for almost 15 years. I am

fortunate to have two wonderful friends who really understand the

trials and tribulations with Max and are really supportive. They

know when I've had it and need to get out of the house, they know

when to stay quiet and just let me vent and they know how to treat

Max as the wonderful person he is, despite his health and emotional

needs.

HOWEVER, I do have a friend who is a good friend, but she does not

know or want to know what we go through. She is very unsympathetic

and always questions what we are doing. But she is my friend at

school, so I try to keep our relationship focused on school things,

not too personal.

It is a lonely feeling to raise a child with special needs. No one

really understands unless they, too, have been there. It takes too

much effort to explain to regular people and regular people don't

really want to take the time to understand - they can't. They think

they have their own problems and don't have time to listen to ours.

You are correct. This listserve has been a wonderful source of

support and information. The MAGIC convention will make you feel

even better. We are in our own sorority/fraternity and we band

together.

Have you ever read the " Trip to Holland " story? If you have, you

will really understand. Basically, everyone on the plane has planned

to go to Italy, but suddenly they find out they are on a plane to

Holland, for which they are not prepared. But they find lots of

wonderful things in Holland that they would not have seen or done in

Italy. Welcome to Holland.

Jodi

Recommended Posts