This week is my daughter’s 16th birthday. We aren’t going to be helping her study for her driver’s permit. Nor are we having a big party, complete with fancy dress and a hair and makeup appointment, like many other girls in our area have when they reach this momentous age. We aren’t even throwing a little dinner like we did when her brother hit 16, because last year when we … [Read more...]
How My Daughter’s Love of Princesses Help Us Connect Beyond Her Special Needs
From my earliest memory, I have had a deep passion for all things pink, sparkly, and shiny. But I was born to parents who never fully appreciated nor indulged my girlish ways, which is my proof that God has a great sense of humor. My mother and father had the insane idea that my sisters and I should grow up feeling that we were more than just pretty objects to be taken … [Read more...]
Please Don’t Call Me a Saint Because My Daughter has Special Needs
“Kathy you’re a saint.” My head snapped up to find my sister’s friend Amy giving me a look that was mixed with awe, pity, and kindness. I was in the middle of helping my then seven-year-old daughter, who has significant special needs, butter her roll while we ate lunch at my nephew’s christening. Lizzy looked adorable in her new pink dress from the American Girl … [Read more...]
I Took My 70-Year-Old Mother to a Sex Shop and Lived to Tell About it
“So who has had sex today?” the pretty -- and a little-too-perky for 10:00 am -- tour guide asks. “And sex with yourself doesn’t count.” It was dawning on me that perhaps a “Sex and the City” bus tour of NYC wasn’t such a great idea for a bonding experience with my 70-year-old mother. A few weeks earlier, I was given the opportunity to review a company that provided … [Read more...]
The Way My Special Daughter Told Me She Loves Me
Today I was struggling to figure out what to write, and I fell back on a typical strategy, I begged my kids for suggestions. My 15-year-old daughter -- whose significant special needs make communication very challenging -- looked up at me with her big brown eyes and said I should write that she loves me. “Mom, that’s so sweet. You should do that. You should write the piece … [Read more...]
