A place to show my love for my granddaughter who lives with Cerebral Palsy and my passion for painting. In an effort of raising awareness for C.P. every painting brush stroke I make on raw canvas is a stroke of love, as I discretely paint a green C.P. awareness ribbon in every piece. Can you find them?
Do you know someone who would like to have a painting done? email www.harrold.janet@gmail.com

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

"I never knew"




I never expected to feel this way. I mean, of course I knew that I would love my grandchildren when the day came. After all, I am a very loving, nurturing person. I knew when the day came for me to have a grandchild that I would be blessed and that I would feel elated. But I never expected to feel a love as deep and as strong as I do for Hailey.
That being said, the day that Hailey was born, and with the level of complications that she had, emotions were overflowing, questions surpassed the highest mountains and uncertainty scared the hell out of me.
After awhile, and one heck of a roller coaster ride, reality and acceptance sets in and love and admiration grows even deeper than you ever thought possible. Hailey is an amazing little girl who has taught our whole family how to live a brand new life, a life that we never new existed. She brings us to new places and gives us a new perspective on what is most important, she has shown us how to be better people and more accepting and aware of others. Things that we never thought we had the time to do. Well, suddenly I have time, because for me the world seems to have come to a standstill and all of the things that we thought were so important are now insignificant. I have learned that we take things for granted everyday. I never realized that we are the fortunate ones just by being able to do everyday simple tasks like being able to walk, or talk, or by being able to feed ourselves. Well Hailey has opened my eyes to the fact that those things that we take for granted everyday are not simple tasks, they are not simple at all for many people. Who knew? I’ve heard about people having disabilities, but really I closed my eyes to it all. I had no idea how large of a community it really is. Now, that is not to say that people who cannot do these tasks cannot grow up to be great people, who can teach us so much about life, real life. On the contrary, people with disabilities are by far the strongest and most determined people that I know. Kind of funny yet contradictory that we perceive them as people who are weak. They will endure more in their lifetime than many of us will even begin to endure. (And we think we have it tough. See, it’s that perspective thing kicking in again) I challenge everyone reading this, to start the New Year off with a new perspective, a new outlook on life and new found respect for people who have a disability. I never knew that such a world existed, and I never knew that I could love someone so deeply as I love my granddaughter Hailey, but it is true, I do...who knew?


God doesn't give children with disabilities to strong people: He gives them to ordinary, everyday people, then He helps the parents to grow stronger through the journey. Raising a child with special needs doesn't TAKE a special family, it MAKES a special family. Author Unknown

8 comments:

  1. Great post Janet! I agree with everything you say here...raising a child with special needs give you an entirely different perspective on life and what is important.

    Absolutely love the quote at the end!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is VERY true!
    Thanks for giving Hailey and the rest of us 'handicapped' people a voice, Janet!
    Great job, you ROCK! Cathy M. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very thought-provoking post. I think the connection grandparents feel with their grandchildren catches lots of us off-guard. Having a special needs grandchild adds another dimension to that relationship.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great post - I think my mother - Bennett's grandmother would agree completely!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi there, You have done a fantastic job. I will definitely
    digg it and personally recommend to my friends. I am confident they'll be benefited from this site.
    My web-site ; samson tobacco

    ReplyDelete
  6. Greetings from California! I'm bored at work so I decided to check out your blog on my iphone during lunch break. I really like the knowledge you provide here and can't wait to take a look
    when I get home. I'm amazed at how quick your blog loaded on my mobile .. I'm not even
    using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, awesome site!
    Stop by my page :: mac baren original choice

    ReplyDelete