Your Current Reality

Last night was the back to school social at our children’s school.   It’s always a good time, talking to other parents, teachers and friends about children, school and what happened over the summer.   We stayed to the end and left after cleanup was well underway, we were having so much fun talking with friends.

I was talking with one father who has three children.  We’ve become reasonably close since starting at the school.   He asked how my daughter’s eyes were and I gave him an update.   I asked how his children were doing and he said to me, “Teà has something going on with her eyes that’s worrying us.”   Then he looked sheepish and said, “I feel bad bringing it up given what you’re going through.”

I told him to not apologize.   We’ve all adapted to our current realities.   They have a child with Down Syndrome who is frequently hospitalized.   His twin daughter has febrile seizures that have been very scary to them.   They have a lot going on in their family to deal with—but that’s their current reality.    Our current reality is a child with a significant vision impairment.  

What’s new is Tea’s eyes doing unexpected jagged, irregular movements.   It’s not nystagmus and they’re worried it’s something neurological.   They’re scared.   It’s new and it’s a big unknown.  

I hope Teà is all right.   They have a lot going on in their current reality and they don’t need an additional thing to deal with.

As for our reality, we are traveling in hope that our daughter will have improved vision in the future.  But for now, we are dealing with the reality we have as best we can and with lots of love.

The Big Boy Update:  My son can eat a chicken drumstick clean.  He likes meat, but when he has an opportunity to, “eat like a caveman” it really makes him happy.   If only he loved to wipe his hands on his napkin instead of his shirt…

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter did not want to get dressed for school the other day.   She was lying on our bed complaining loudly.   Finally she said, “how about no pants, no shirt and lots of socks?”  

Wow I’m Tired: Today we ran twenty-two miles.  It was hot, it was humid and it was sunny.   We were in partial shade in the park but I still got a good bit of sun.   We stopped regularly for lots and lots of water until we felt like we were sloshing inside.   Even so, when I got home I’d still lost four pounds in water weight.