"Retard, Tard, you're retarded, that's retarded..." you get the point

If you've ever called someone a RETARD, a TARD or otherwise used this word in a derogatory manner to imply someone is stupid, acts stupid, is a bad leader, is a bad teacher, is unpopular at school or not one of your "friends", is a bad anything please raise your hand. Wow, no one? Really? Because I hear it all the time, and it is probably my biggest pet peave. How about this? Let's pretend you have, oh I don't know..., a missing foot, and so someone has decided that people with missing feet must be invaluable enough to call other people a name associated with that, i.e. "gimp". So you go through your life and you hear other people when they want to express that someone is an idiot they call them a "gimp," throw it around left and right. Does this imply that because someone is a "gimp" that they are invaluable to the world and because they have used this word in a different context, to INSULT other people who in fact do not actually have a missing foot, that you are now so devalued that you have become a playground tease word, a teenager's catch-word, an adult's ultimate insult reserved for only the most stupid or ridiculous people or politicians (not always being lumped in the 'people' category). You see, that's how I hear the word RETARD. Do I think we should pick apart every word for political correctness? Nope. Do I know people mostly don't mean anything derogarory directly to mentally handicapped people? Yep. Do I know that when a family who has someone they love dearly with a mental handicap hears or sees that word used as an insult thrown at someone else whether in print, out loud, joking or being mean, it feels like a stab in the heart every time? That I definitely know.

My daughter and others with mental handicaps, yes mental retardation, are some of the best people on earth that I know. So guess what? Call me a RETARD. It's the highest compliment. But when you are throwing around words, think about them please.

I promise most of my posts will be funny, uplifting, hopefully inspiring, but some things have to be said.

I'm back, but it's not like when Fonzie jumped the shark

I woke up early and remembered my blog. Actually, God has brought my blog to my mind relentlessly over the past few days. See, without hurting anyone's feelings, blogs to me always seemed so narcissistic. But God, being much smarter than I, has shown me that some things just need to be said. He has shown me this through friends sharing blog posts on facebook, blog posts that have inspired me or challenged my way of thinking. Because special needs children, adults, families and communities that need to support them are so close to my heart, I am starting again. Maybe someone will read something and be inspired, be encouraged and be challenged in their thinking.

So I say it's not like when Fonzie jumped the shark, a desperate attempt to revive something that didn't need to be, had said all it had to say. I may not have good ratings yet, but it's far from done.

Where did I go??

Yep, I started this venture and then left everyone hanging. So much happened during the summer. I am now working as a family partner for the mental health/mental retardation center! I get to help families with kids/teens with emotional disturbances and I truly love doing it! Now that I'm settled in there, I'm back!

My daughter got a scooter and now she thinks she is in absolute heaven! She's about to be 14 and I can't believe it! She seems to have started some of the hormonal stuff, though it is hard to tell because she is moody anyway... just part of the deal! So here she is on her scooter. It is a Buzz Around Lite, and she loves to buzz around in it. She can make it a red one or change the colors to blue or silver, so she thinks that's the coolest thing. So far she has only run into a planter, with no damage. She's a better driver than me! So here she is...



That's my girl! She zips around the sidewalks in our cul-de-sac, and mom and dad worry about her crossing the street, even though in our cul-de-sac there is never any traffic and all the neighbors watch for her... we hope. It's a nerve-wracking thing being a parent.. then throw a special needs kiddo in the mix and you just have to LET GO a little and let them LIVE a little.

Let the insanity begin!

I can hear the cries of excitement among the young ones and the cries of anguish among the moms.... it is the last day of school It barely even qualifies as a day, since they will go, eat junk food, watch a movie and then come home, sort of just a cruel tease for me... And then it begins... summer - the good, the bad and the ugly! Wow! It always starts off great, pools, camps, etc., then the "I'm bored....," eating me out of house and home, neighbor friends coming in and out of my house, cleaning literally thousands of little fingerprints off my glass door. Okay, let's just call summer off now that I think about it.

Bethany, my 13-year-old girl with cerebral palsy and mild mental retardation, will be attending a day camp every weekday. She loved this last year. They get to bowl, play at water park, see movies, go to the park, and the list goes on, and the MHMR staff are so great working with the special needs kids. So she's pretty much set for summer. The boys (10 and 7) have camps, etc. throughout the summer which I practically have to get another mortgage to pay for, but worth it right... for their personal growth and experiences in life and of course, a worthy investment in my sanity. I personally love the lazy days at the pool. I reserve my reading of actual novels until summer because only when am I AWAY from the house do I not feel compelled to be productive. At the pool life is always good, dishes don't matter, bills don't matter, time does not matter! My favorite part of summer is the pool and I would spend my entire summer sunbathing with a book if I had that option.

So yes, I guess I'm ready. I just wish my 40-year-old-had-3-c-sections-and-never-fully-recovered body was a little more swimsuit ready!! Oh well... no one but the other old moms and dads like me are there to see me anyway because to anyone under 25 we are all just old and not much is expected of us. This is also when I do my thing where I think how I definitely look better than that person, or that person, or that person... it's my little game, wrong maybe, but I keep it to myself and it helps me take a little less pressure off myself to be superwoman.

Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day, March 25th

I did not know this was a day and I missed it! But... maybe the beginning of something great for a debilitating problem that affects so many lives, more and more as babies can survive earlier and earlier out of the womb and their risks of CP increase with each day they are premature. Take a look and share....



A Beautiful Ride!

Blog... blog... blog

So blogging.... what a strange word and what a strange thing it is to think that people actually care enough to read each other's ramblings about nothing. But I am reading about random people's lives when 10 years ago I was just learning how to e-mail!!! It's the ultimate alternative to Reality TV. Reality TV is everything but real. Blogging, now that's real... or is it? I could write that I just won the Pulitzer Prize and you'd never know I didn't.

What made me decide to try this blogging adventure was the fact that when I look for blogs I find a lot of stuff, but not much from someone like me who is just having a routine chaotic life with all of the struggles that come with raising my family...... with the one exception that I have a child with a disability, or rather, a "specially-abled" child. A special needs child puts a unique twist on life, for all the family members. But you know what... we're still a normal family and we have normal stuff going on just like everyone else, we just juggle that with our not-so-normal stuff. If you are one of these families, then stay tuned..... and be prepared to have a nice mix of useful, even inspirational information and information with very little value whatsoever, depending on my mood!