Tags
adulthood, Canada, childhood, Disability, family, journey, kids, life, motherhood, passion, social services
On September 29th, my youngest son turned 18. Usually a big deal for every parent, but I feel rather unique with regards to My Guy. For so many years, his 18th birthday was marked as a milestone. I would have him reading, toilet-trained, independent, walking, running……basically, he would be like all other children at that age. It didn’t happen! Certainly there have been milestones along the way, the major one is walking, but for the most part this monumental day isn’t what I had mapped out for his future. So here we are, after 17 1/2 years of learning how to navigate one of the most complicated networks of Social Services and I begin again, except this time I am supposed to take a passenger seat and let him drive his life. That’s pretty hard to do, when I am the voice behind My Guy, since he has never found the ability to use words. Communicate he can do but only if YOU make the choice to be patient and understand what he is trying to say through sign language, body language, grunts and facial expressions. Welcome to our journey – for I see a need to share how it feels to enter this next stage of his life and how I will manage through it.