God life – Vicki Neely

“But How Are You- Really?”

While I’m sure this probably isn’t just a southern thing, my whole life I’ve followed, my greeting of choice- “Hey,” -with, “How are you?” It just sort of runs together and people usually answer with the obligatory, “Fine, thanks,” or “I’m good. How are you?”

We all say it, because let’s face it – do people really want to know how we are? Does the acquaintance I see in the restroom really want to hear the whole, sorted story of my life at the moment? Does the cashier at the grocery store really care what my typical day is like?

True friends love us through our snark and are woman (or man) enough to tell us to get off our pity pot or conversely lend us that shoulder to cry on at just the right time.

The friends that ask, “But how are you – really?” and really want to know. My momma was that kind of friend. I’m so grateful for those friends.

Now, I don’t want to be that special-needs mom who just writes to complain how hard and constant it is, how different or dependent, or sick my child is. I have written such things at times because I think those who don’t live our kind of life need a glimpse in order to give parents and families of those with special-needs the understanding that is so needed and desired at times.

I also have three neuro-typical children and as much as I’ve tried to treat Joshua the same, his needs are different, his development is different, and parenting him is just, well, different.

Parenting any child – babies to young adults and in between, special-needs or not- is one tough job. But it’s the one I love with everything I am.

But some days, dang it, I just want to say, “I’m tired. I’m over adulting and want to just do something fun. I don’t always feel like the “strong mom.” But I have to be to because I am the mom and there is no break, no vacation because even if I were able to get away, my mind would never rest.

But I tell myself when I’m not good that things could be worse and I’m very blessed. Others would love what many of us complain about and that thought flips my gripe into grateful.

When it comes to “those” days with my son, I remember that he is worth every hard thing I must do.

Recently I was asked at church and I responded, “I’m doing very well,” and I truly was at that specific moment.

But then there is today.

And I’m not really sure how I am. I’m doing the daily, but it lingers somewhere behind, creeping up and in as I plan.

Because in one week from today, even at this very moment as I write, my son- the one with Down syndrome, heart condition, non-verbal autism who can’t tell me his pain level or express his fears – will be having a six to seven- hour surgery to fuse rods into his back in order to fix his 60-degree spinal curve.

Preparing by list-making for the week-long stay, coordinating with my older kids about who wants to be there and determining what to do with my youngest distracts me and I welcome the distraction.

This journey to next week should have been over a year ago. A hump/bump I noticed on his back started in motion a roller-coaster I didn’t see coming. We set a tentative date, and then were hit with another challenge that put the spinal surgery on hold.

Joshua had started at a new school after nine-years at his elementary school (he started at age three and we held him back in 5th grade) and he simultaneously started regurgitating his food. We thought it to be adjustment issues – not liking the cafeteria, the noise, the food. We packed his lunch and tried to figure what made it happen.

Finally, we concluded it must be physical and he had endoscopic surgery. He received a diagnosis of severe inflammation of the esophagus and reflux, with a stricture which inhibited his food from going down. After several months of medicine, three endoscopies and seeing a nutritionist to help with weight-gain, we returned to the orthopedic surgeon to reassess.

While the reflux was remarkably better, the scoliosis had worsened and surgery became inevitable.

Joshua is never a “typical” case. Normally, bloodwork and heart tests (EKG and echocardiogram) are done under anesthesia when he has other surgeries. But this time we had to hold him down for them to do these pre-operative tests and he doesn’t understand why and it takes much physical strength (on my husband and teenage son’s part to hold him) and emotional strength because, it honestly breaks my heart to watch.

Surgeries are not new for Joshua. In addition to the endoscopies, he has numerous dental procedures done under anesthesia, ear tubes, tonsils out, adenoids removed, hearing test (because he can’t respond to the typical ones), ear canals cleaned, tear-duct probe, and I’m sure I’m forgetting something because surgeries and illnesses and hospital stays all run together after a while.

But one I will never forget. Open- heart surgery. The first and most daunting.

October 30, 2002 is branded in my mind. The anticipatory feelings occasionally rise up and overtake me even almost 14 years later.

I hesitate to say I’m more “used to” him having surgery, but while it doesn’t get easier, it does get familiar.

I remember my daughter having a tear-duct probe as a toddler (same as Joshua) and thinking it was monumental.

Everything is monumental when it comes to our children.

During one meeting with the surgeon, my husband had to leave as he described what he would be doing to fix our precious son’s back.

I listened.

In the car on the way home, I looked at my husband and said, “I’m going to have to cry for a little bit.”

And while spinal surgery isn’t open-heart, it’s still major and while I am honestly okay this very minute, I’m not sure about the next.

I’m pretty certain that the feelings I had turning over my six-month old to a surgeon to fix his broken heart while mine broke too will most likely resurface as I watch my 14 year-old young man-child be wheeled away as I put my trust in my God and a highly-skilled surgeon.

And I will wait.

And pray.

And cry.

I really haven’t yet cried the ugly cry. Tears have come, but not the real, the body-shaking, tear-streaking, contact-lens fogging, “God, please protect my baby” cry.

There’s something cathartic about weeping. I will let myself at the proper time because I know I will because I know me and I am a mama and I love that boy with every bit of my breath and will fight for him for everything that is in the deepest parts of my soul.

And I know God is listening and will put those tears in a bottle and hold them and hold me and most of all hold Joshua.

So, how am I?

I’m good.

Maybe.

I honestly don’t know.

I’m busy and distracted and putting off the thinking too much. I’m Scarlett O’ Hara and will think about that tomorrow.

I’m grateful as I hear him in the other room making his noises and knowing that when I walk in to check on him, he will smile at me and I will tell him how much I love his face and he will pull it to mine.

And then I may not be okay.

But he will be, and that is all I need.

Love Never Fails

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”

Valentine’s Day- a day of full of red hearts and chubby cupids, chocolate and flowers, cards and sappy sentiments. A day set aside to celebrate love.

When my husband and I were dating, I planned a pull-out-all-the-stops Valentine’s Day celebration, only to have him called in to work at the last minute. Left alone with my candles and chocolate, a dinner to pack in the fridge, I cried and mourned the by-myself night ahead of me.

That fairy-tale night. That date circled with a heart on the calendar that shouted to me that I must do something to show this guy I was smitten.

We plan the big wedding, we buy the breath-taking dress, we walk the aisle, and we throw the party.

Life happens. Kids come. Sometimes some are born with extreme needs. Businesses close. Finances become shaky. Tempers flare and frustrations mount.

The daily little foxes that spoil the vines and threaten to crack that very foundation poured years ago before a minister on a rainy Saturday.

And somewhere down the line, love can become no longer patient and sometimes a bit unkind.

As years pass, familiarity and assurance of unconditional love can make kindness dwindle; its reserves poured on strangers and acquaintances and used up.

Yet in the midst of the daily grind, amongst the frustrated and frantic, I find true love.

Not expected flowers and candy on a day. Not mushy-gushy, but love in action.

Love is the sound of my husband give my special-needs son a shower before school and hearing him say, “I love you…”

Because love is patient.

Love is his taking him to school so I don’t have to get out on a cold morning.

Because love is kind.

Love is working long hours to grow a business to provide for our family. Love is me not envying those whose husbands work steady hours, who go on regular date nights and take yearly vacations, but instead being thankful for what he does and why he does it.

Love is finding joy in the everyday moments.

Love is eating chips and guacamole in the kitchen instead of dinner out in a quiet restaurant.

It does not envy.

Love is buying new tires and putting gas in my van. Love is calling every night on the way home from work to ask if I need anything from the store without ever being asked or expecting thanks.

It does not boast.

Love is, in many years of marriage, not ever demanding that dinner be on the table, never asking what I did all day or proclaim that the house is a mess. Instead, love tells me that he could never do what I do.

It does not dishonor others.

Love is a daddy starting his baby girl’s car on a cold morning before she goes to work.

It is not self-seeking.

Love is not getting upset when I banged up our cars, got speeding tickets, ran over a mailbox, and even when I hit him backing out of our driveway.

It is not easily-angered.

Love is not pointing out my many short-comings and failures, but encouraging me to do what God has called me to.

It keeps no record of wrongs.

Love is staying together though circumstances that should have ripped us apart.

Love believes God for greater things than what we can see, but only He can do.

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Some days love must be sought on purpose. Because tempers flare and some days, people irritate.

But most days, I simply listen.

And I hear love in the sound of daddy-wrestling and brother-chasing, daughter-laughing and angel-seer giggling.

I hear “I love you’s” and read texts signed with hearts and it makes my own full.

I feel hugs and pucker kisses, small hands in mine and heads on my chest and I drink in all that they are.

I see all around me the evidence of those I love and remember that love is patient when I wish they would put their things away.

I thank God that by His grace that I have those who create messes and fill my days. I thank Him that they love me and He loves me.

I thank Him for love that always protects, hopes, and perseveres.

True love demonstrated and poured out on the cross – a red unlike any valentine and a love none can ever replicate.

Today I celebrate love, not because I have to, but because I get to. Because of Him and what He gave me. For what He gives me every day.

Love never fails.

Christmas Lights

Yesterday lights on my tree went out. We thought a plug came loose – although we all know this could never happen since my kids and dog are so calm and never throw things or hit the tree. I woke up thinking about how to do this. I may have actually dreamed about it.

Therefore, today, I will take everything off and re-do my tree if necessary. Even though I need to shop and do a zillion other things, the tree is a priority.

Why? Needles will be everywhere and I will be sap-sticky and aggravated. Why I am I slightly obsessed (although after last night, Jerry would argue that the obsession is more than slight) over a tree? After all, it’s just a tree.

Is it because reminds me of Christmases growing up? Is it because for years when Jerry and I had no money to give each other gifts, the tree WAS my gift? Is it all for the kids? Why is it that I, in all my frugalness and practicality, must have my real tree instead of buying an artificial one time and using it every year when that makes so much more sense?

I think the tree feels like home.

A real tree looks uneven and has holes. When the lights are off, the branches look bunched up and the wires show. The ornaments look a little dull.

But when the lights are on, it becomes transformed. The wires fade into the green and the ornaments are illuminated. The imperfections are covered and it draws us to sit and enjoy it. It becomes beautiful and inviting.

Kind of like us. We are real and messy, imperfect and full of holes. When Jesus comes to live in us, we take on His light and become light. We are still imperfect and bunched-up but His light covers us and illuminates through us.

The Light of the World Himself asks us to be Him to the world. His light is inviting. His light is comforting.

His light is home.

Heart Sleeves

I have often heard that special-needs parenting requires a thick skin. However, this mama’s skin feels pretty thin much of the time.

My own momma used to tell me that I “wear my heart on my sleeve.”

So my exposed heart gets hurt and the skin under my heart-covered sleeve is fragile.

And I become weary.

Weary of the continuous fight. Education, services, therapies, specialists, doctors and the gamut of who and what is needed to simply sustain “special-needs life” overwhelms me at times.

My child, who cannot speak, possessing the cognitive skills of a toddler encased in a pre-pubescent body, often expresses his frustration through unexpected meltdowns and constant, loud stimming (self-stimulating behavior).

Learning a simple skill require constant repetition.

Nothing comes easy for him.

Heart defects and respiratory problems loom in the back of my mind as well as the risks of certain diseases more common in a child like mine.

I’m a guard keeping constant watch over a delicate, yet mighty fortress which is Joshua.

Other parents deal with similar issues. Some less. Some more.

Many watch helplessly as their child suffers from multiple seizures daily. Others cannot leave their home because of health or behavioral problems.

Others practically live in a hospital, as I did for several years. Surgeries become commonplace.

Others change feeding tubes, haul wheelchairs in and out of vans and struggle to get through doors while onlookers do just that. Look.

Penetrating stares and flippant remarks seem acceptable and even appropriate.

Name-calling and jokes are merely a Facebook newsfeed, doctor’s office and grocery store aisle away.

“Sit down! What are you, RETARDED??” yells a father at his running children as my husband sits waiting for an appointment.

“You know, I have the opposite problem. All three of my children are highly gifted,” boasts a mom as I push Joshua on a swing.

“You do know he’s sucking his toes, “says a woman disapprovingly to my friend.

“You must ride the short bus,” says a guy, driving an airport shuttle, to my friend whose son also has Down syndrome.

“There’s no such thing as ADHD. That’s just something lazy parents make up because they don’t want to discipline their children,” says a mother who is blessed to have children with no such issues.

We deal with insensitive bedside manner and quietly nod as doctors and specialists give their “expert” opinions.

“You know he will be moderately to severely mentally-retarded. You may want to reconsider terminating your pregnancy because you are so devastated,” says the obstetrician. To me.

“Your son is too profoundly mentally retarded to go to that school, “says a specialist. Again, to me.

Facebook pages dedicated to using people with Down syndrome for target practice.

Memes calling people retarded, tards, retards, potatoes. And my friends “liking” them.

Look at my heart. On my sleeve, wet with tears for my precious boy and all those like him who would simply hug and smile at someone who called them that or posted that picture.

I have cried to the Lord in my most raw, real moments before Him that he picked the wrong person to do all this. Because I don’t have the stamina, the fortitude to withstand all that goes with this journey.

But God doesn’t make mistakes. He chose Joshua for me.

His life is worth every single hard thing I must do.

Or hear. Or read. Or even ignore.

God’s grace enables me to turn the other cheek when I want to scream, “YOU DON’T LIVE MY LIFE!!!”

He has entrusted me with much.

Often the most difficult is not what I must do for him, but what I have to hear about him.

But hurtful comments and careless words are no match for his smile.

And I realize that I am able because His power is made perfect in weakness.

And while my heart my lay open for all to see, I know Who holds it. And as long as it beats, it will always be vulnerable as not to harden to the harshness of this world, but to soften the hearts of those around me.