Happy Birthday to You…

Wow, I can’t believe she is 26 years old today.

Happy Birthday to You…

I wonder what the next 26 years will look like for Elizabeth?

Happy Birthday to dear Elizabeth

I hope Elizabeth is happy with how her life is going!

Happy Birthday to You…

I pray God blesses your path, my angel Elizabeth.

Yes, that is the official transcript of my thought process as she is ready to blow out her candles

I wish I was not so much of a thinker and could just be happy the candles didn’t melt onto the cake, but alas, I am not this person.

So I think.

and think,

and think.

Not obsessively mind you, just situationally.

It is birthdays and other markers of time passing tend to make this happen.

And for those who have special needs in their life, you know just how much time you have spent doing for, helping, and working with your child with special needs that you can’t help but wonder “what if I had done this or that?” ” What if I had the chance to do this new therapy back then, would she be a better talker now?”

I know that so many new therapies, ideas and treatments have come and gone and come again since Elizabeth was little but there would have been absolutely no way that we could have even learned about them all, let alone tried them for her.

But you still can’t help wondering….

Was the path you took the correct one?

So as I have those thoughts that I shared with you, I feel I want to share something that helps me at these times.

And it is, that at the time we made ANY decision for or with Elizabeth, we did it with the best of intentions and with the most information we had at that time.

PERIOD.

I can’t spend more than those fleeting moments wondering if we got it right. Or if we did it wrong. Because the truth is we did both.

We did some things right and some things wrong.

But we did it all with the best of intentions with the most information we had at the time.

So while I may be a thinker, I have learned to be kind to myself as I think of our journey. This is something I have learned in the past 26 years. It is something, I want to share with you. Because who knows who may need to read this right now.

And as she blows out the candles one by one, I know that the right things we did show from her smile to her laugh to her ability to text thank you to her uncle and aunt for their gifts.

I will hold onto the good and offer to you to do the same and be kind to you as well.

I wish everyone a peaceful week.

Michele Gianetti author of Elizabeth Believes In Herself