Much time goes by without notice. Life is busy. The days whiz by.
Parenting my daughter with “special needs” has caused me to slow my life down so she can catch up. I’ve discovered something quite unexpected. In truth, I have had to catch up to HER. Little Miss’s developmental delays render a moment into an actual, observable unit of time. Someone said there are four moments in a second. What?! Seconds? Who pays attention to seconds?
Little Miss does. Because she lives right there in the moments within the seconds. Sounds exhausting, such focus on the miniscule. It turns out to be quite peaceful. I cannot multi-task, I cannot hurry. I can only live, breathe, absorb what is now.
Last night we made a gingerbread house together. First time for each of us. Typically I drive through to end product, without braking. Results.
As we begin, I read only the instruction for the first step. Unaware of next steps in the process, my beautiful daughter enjoyed every tiny step along the way. Therefore, so did I. She had expanded time for me and I enjoyed each moment! The end result was utterly magnificent: my daughter and I shared an hour of moments filled with eye contact, smiles and wonder.
Now if I can protect the gingerbread house from her always ravenous older brother for a few days.
fee fi fo fum
i smell the stealth of the older one
if he eats that house he’ll have no fun
cuz he’ll contend with his very fierce mum!
12-18-2008
Pedaling Backwards 