Funny….Time, when in the midst of it, seems an eternity. Long gone, it is a fleeting memory.
Summers past. Precious days. Years-on at a camp inclusion. Then: aged out.
Now, 18. We have little such possibility.
At the start of our journey, two friends dedicated themselves to advocacy. They'd carved a path for inclusion. At the end of their children's school career, they looked behind them. Dismayed. No one had followed.
One of them, still at it. The other, retired.
Funny….Now we stand where they stood. Grace and I. Child(ren) turned 18.
From here, looking back, I see the struggles continue.
From a place of long-entrenched peace, I attempt to assure young parents new to the journey that they will survive. Even thrive. If they choose. If they can lose the clench hold on their worry and know that somehow, though imperfect and too often battle-scar inflicting, it does work out.
And then….We continue on.
Photo: ©LeisaHammett.com, "Android-ography," Pixlr-o-matic app; Path to Jordan Lake, Jamestown, Tenn.; May, private writer's retreat
