A couple weeks ago I was able to attend a two-day event filled with motivational speakers. It was not meant to have anything to do with special-needs kids. However, one of the first speakers was telling her life story and sort of just âthrew outâ the fact that her son was blind. It really caught my attention because that is exactly how I refer to Eddie. It isnât something that sits at the front of my mind, and it isnât something that I feel Iâve âovercomeâ, it is just a simple fact about my son.
The speaker told of great tragedies she had been through and dealt with. She spoke of the trauma that took her sonâs sight, but didnât even mention it left him blind until she was telling another anecdote about him. She went on to explain that she went back to school because that is what she needed to do for her son. She didnât expect praise for this; it seemed to her a simple fact of what a mother would do for her child.
I listened to her story and thought about how similar our feelings were in regards to our children and their blindness. I thought about how many times we were given another diagnosis or prognosis and we simply said, âWhat do we do next?â We moved forward parenting Eddie because we had no other choice but to just do it.
After her presentation, I had a chance to speak with her very briefly. I told her that her story connected with me because I had the same attitude about raising a child who is blind. I said, and she said almost in unison, âyou just do it.â There is no complaining, there is no second guessing, and there can be no wishing for something else. These kids are unique and wonderful and we learn how to teach them, encourage them, and take care of them because we are their mothers. Simply put, we just do it.