"I'm having a hard time understanding how you all can be so happy."
I hear ya.
I am grateful for the person who shared this sentiment in one of the many social media group pages that I belong to. Specifically, a closed "room" related to the fragile x community.
This was shared to people who have been/ are currently now/ or will be at conference. That's about as specific as I'll get.
Me, personally... I am not happy when I have to travel in general. I am not happy that I happen to be out of work right now. I am not happy that my husband had to take time off of work this week, after having just started a new promotion. I am not happy that I am away from my son for a number of nights in a row. I am not happy that I can't be in two places at once & orchestrate Hayden's daily routine this week.
And last but certainly not least... following numerous appointments due to a curious welt of sorts which appeared on Hayden's back a number of weeks ago, I am not happy that the day I left for the fragile x conference we received confirmation that he tested positive for one of the strains of lymes disease. Treatable? Yes. Administering three doses of medicine in Hayden every day for ten days? You might as well tell us to convince a random animal out in nature to sit still & smile for a portrait.
Putting all of that aside it's important to point out that everything I've shared so far during this conference(& have been tagged in), can either be described as fun or productive or both. Happy, joyful, hopeful... surrounded by people who share the same sentiments.
How can any of us be so happy? We're here because of an inherited, genetic disability that affects our families. Heck, the first conference I went to I didn't even get through Day One before having a nervous breakdown on the phone to my sister. I remember standing in front of the hotel, curbside. Sobbing. I told her I went to a session about siblings... (a) I assumed Hayden would not be an only child & (b) in the interim maybe my sister-in-law would find some of the information useful for her (then) youngest, my niece, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome after she was born.
But you see during that sibling session there was a video of a young child talking very candidly about their brother with fragile x, & how he loved him but wished he could do more stuff together with him. He was reluctantly sad & I could not even begin to process what our options would be for the future. I remember telling my sister, "What am I supposed to do? Have three kids? How can I have only one more? That wouldn't be fair to them..." And I cried & cried because there was not any answer that seemed to be the correct answer.
How the heck can anyone go from that, to being happy.
The reality of fragile x is an ongoing mourning process & it is not easy. But there are people on the same, or very similar journey.
As one friend reiterated, last night at the welcome reception we were reminded we all have a choice:
"we can focus on our kids' disabilities and the things they can't or will never do OR we can focus on the amazing things they can do and celebrate all their abilities. It's a choice we all get to make even though living with fragile X isn't a choice we would have made for ourselves. If you choose to live a glass half full life there are joys to be found and this conference, being around the people who walk in your shoes, is one of those joys.
If we look bafflingly happy it's because we are living that "half-full glass" life and enjoying the beautiful moments of feeling completely and fully understood and loved by the people we are sharing this time with.
It takes time to get here, it takes WORK to get here and some days are STILL "glass half-empty" days...heck, I have "the glass is shattered" days despite the time and work...but these are the people who pick me up, dust me off and refill my glass
So, heck yeah, I'm happy here...I'm enjoying the people, feeling loved and refilling my glass for the times ahead.
I'll drink to that.
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To learn more about fragile x, the conference, & the mission of the NFXF, visit The National Fragile X Foundation
To support the NFXF during Awareness Month, or to simply view or share Hayden's annual LEK page, please click HERE
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love this!
ReplyDeletetrinik