I feel for you…

Dawn,
I raised a son who had to attend school mostly in a wheelchair. He could walk into the classroom with AFOs & Canadian crutches, but had to do the hallways with a wheelchair. I won’t say it was easy, but he made up for it by being known as the “smart kid” because he read so much from first grade on. It was extremely hard to watch him on the playground though, as he was either all alone or with his aide. I was teaching in the high school across the street & the playground was in between the schools. Especially hard was to see my other son, just 22 months older, involved in all of the physical games going on. Sometimes it just broke my heart to watch.

Thankfully he never felt pain, as his paralysis was complete. But I did get on his case a lot for being lazy & sleeping a lot. Now I realize that everything he did was so much harder than his siblings (showering, dressing, crawling up the stairs to his bedroom.) I feel guilty about that. But we were always so close & to this day I am still closer to him than his brother & sister, & I am close to both of them. But all we have been through together through the years has made us close. When I was at my worst, he was the one who took care of me during the day as he works afternoons.

Now he has his own place, has a cleaning woman, washes his clothes in the laundry room at his apt. building. My husband does take him grocery shopping once a month, but otherwise he is completely independent. I guess the purpose of my post is a glimpse down the road for you. It all works out somehow, trust me. I wish I would have worried less & just enjoyed him more through the years. I wish I could have looked into the future to see how proud I would be of him today & what a fine young man he turned out to be. He works over 50 hours a week as a sports reporter, driving all over this area with hand controls & his wheelchair to cover sporting events. He loves his job & is very good at it. He has worked at this job since a week after graduating from college in May of 2003; says he loves his job.

Trust me, it will all work out for Kevie. He may just need more rest than a healthy child would…
Blessings, Pam