scribblechic

I set the book aside, knowingly.  Days passed and I would greet the title with each dawn, waiting for the right moment to begin.  On a cloudless day, beneath a brilliant blue sky, I sat in the shade of my backyard and slowly welcomed old memories between the lines of another’s words.  With a lump in my throat and a full heart, I read The Anti-Romantic Child: A Story of Unexpected Joy by Priscilla Gilman.

Our lives have different beginnings, but our stories are hauntingly familiar.  We meet in a place of beauty; kindred spirits bound by grace born of love for our children.  Two mothers searching for and finding joy in our children’s extraordinary gifts and challenges.

My son, my first-born, was my homecoming.  The first time our eyes met my speech failed, but my heart opened in an awakening. Large brown eyes, sage and serene, mirrored my own.  Long, thin fingers wrapped around mine and centered me in a place of peace. I fell into contentment.

There were no other children to contrast my son’s development and I was blissfully unaware of heartaches and struggles looming in the shadows of our future.  We toiled away hours, days, months, and years oblivious to red flags that would later signal an otherness. Endearing traits would later become cause for concern.

One doctor, with little more than an unsettled feeling, refered us to a child psychiatrist that would see what we had not.  Diagnoses and abstract initials hovered heavy, stealing the air from the room as we began to understand our son in a new language.  With love and hope we have found our way amidst the endless unknown determined to embrace our son for the special soul that he is.

Between the lines of a stranger’s story I have found strength and inspiration; a celebration for the unique spirits that accompany us on our journey through motherhood.

Please note: This post is my effort to capture my initial feelings as I read this very special book.  I consciously did not reference the author’s words but rather my emotional connection to the experience of reading them.