Happiness, pure happiness

Prompted by a post I just read on facebook, I must write my own little story of my children, whom I am so proud of. This one isn't about my munchkins though, this one is about my kids without "special needs".

I had the opportunity to be able to take my children to the movies on Father's Day. We decided to go see the Green Lantern in 3D! We love to get there a little early to get the "good seats" and just enjoy the whole movie going experience. We got there just in time so we were in a hurry to find our seats. We gave our tickets to the lady to tear them and tell us where to go. She was a beautiful girl, that is what I see, and I watched my children to see if that is how they would see her to. She had problems with her body, and with her speech that made it a little more difficult to do the job than it would have, let's say, my usually impatient children. We waited for her to get us our glasses, which was slow, but absolutely lovely. It gave me the greatest chance to see my kids, to really see my kids. They all had smiles on their faces. Dakotah's was the biggest and the happiest. They were very patient as this special lady handed them their glasses with hands that were hard to move due to contractures. As she explained to us where to go, my children stood there and listened to everyword she said, never trying to hurry her along or showing any annoyance what so ever. As we walked away, my soon to be 16 year old son, whose image is everything to him, said to me "Mom, that makes me very, happy." "What makes you very happy?" I said. To which he replied "that places are starting to recognize how special these people truly are, they deserve a chance to do all they can do, and we need to support their need to be independant all we can. So I am happy, because I saw how hard she was trying to do a job that most people would scoff over, doing movements that most people take for granted, that I take for granted."

I couldn't help but cry as his younger brother and sister, who completely look up to their older, handsome brother, echoed his sentiments down the hallway as we walked toward our theatre. Dakotah has always had a special love for those children like ours, the special needs ones. I was very happy to be able to see that love in action.

I've always asked myself, ever since I had Megan, what this would do to my family, what this would do to my kids without these "special needs". Would it be fair to ask them to sacrifice, to ask them to be so different from the other families they know. And I've learned through the years, that to be without these "special children" would be the sacrifice. My children have learned lessons that books could never teach them. Megan and Easton and Raegan have given us priceless gifts. The gift of empathy, patience, love, wisdom, and the understanding of what is important. Who is important.
Dakotah said one more thing with me that day that I must also share. He said "Mom, do you know what their secret is, why they are so happy? because they don't get caught up in the things that don't matter, they simply love." then he put on his glasses and the movie began to start. My son, the future Rock-n-Roll star, has learned some tough lessons in this life, he has seen more suffering than I would have ever liked for him to, but his words made my heart soar. He gets it, he really gets it!