parenting | Lessons from my daughter

Emily has to be the only kid with a Christening Anniversary 🙂

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When I was little I didn’t dream of big wedding, I didn’t dream of wedding at all.

I didn’t daydream about getting a new last name.

This was never an objective in my life.

I was going to have a career and by the time I was 25, I would figure out how to have a baby, most likely on my own as I doubted I would ever find someone I would want to spend the rest of my life with.

The rest of my life when I was a teenager seemed to be way too long to plan to spend it with one person.

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When I met Jonathan, I didn’t plan on spending the rest of my life with him.

We worked at the same place, him in the kitchen, me in the dining room.

My English was barely good enough to be a server, Jon had no French at all.

🙂

Conversation was not part of the original attraction.

We both had plans that didn’t include each other.

We both got caught off guard.

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Oct.5th 1998

Jon and I married and Emily was christened.

Today is our anniversary! All 3 of us are celebrating!

Emily has to be the only kid with a Christening Anniversary 🙂

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By the time we got married, we had Emily, we owned our house (well, we owned the mortgage) and had a dog!

I married because it felt right, not because I had to.

I married without questioning how long forever was going to be.

So far, as of 10am this morning, it’s been 15 years of us being married. Almost 17 years together. By June 2014, I will have spent as much time living with my husband as I did living with my mom. 🙂

I love my husband even tough he drives me nuts!

There are so many things he does or doesn’t do that are getting on my nerves…

Will I leave him because of these things? Maybe….

LOL! He reads my blog so might as well play with him a little.

All those things that are driving me nuts are the things that attracted me at first.

He does things without thinking first. He doesn’t care if the kitchen is a mess. He is a night bird. He spends money as if there is no tomorrow… and so much more!

I love him!

I think too much, I care too much about the little things that needs to be done, I make lists and stick them everywhere, I sleep at night and I save my money…. ok, that last one isn’t true. I budget and make sure we can live a happy life and treat ourselves when we want to.

If we were both like me, life would be boring. There is no way I would live with someone like me. I have no idea why he is still with me.

From day one, our friends tried to keep us apart but somehow we are still together.

Our life has been stressful. We have had all the reasons in the world to fall apart but we decided to pull it together.

The fact that we are so different has served us well over the years. We ask different questions, we hear different answers, I take notes while he keeps talking. He pushes issues and asks the difficult questions when I can’t.

He is my rock and I adore him although from time to time… 🙂

Happy Anniversary Honey! I love you!

I have another application form to fill for Emily.

It’s for the Sunshine Foundation. They grant dreams for Canadian kids.

http://www.sunshine.ca

To qualify, a child must be:
1. between the age of 3 and 18.
2. Challenged by a severe physical disability or life-threatening illness.
3. Resident of Canada
4. Cognitively and physically capable of expressing his or her own dream.

I contacted them at least a year ago to see if Emily qualified.

Emily expressed her dream which involves Justin Bieber but doesn’t involve one of his jam packed and extremely loud concert.

We passed the first step quickly enough. Now I need to fill the detailed form and get Emily’s doctor to sign-off on it.

I admit, I’ve been delaying this process for 3 reasons.

1. What if she doesn’t get it? She understands enough to know what we are doing. The foundation wanted her to express her dream. She did that so now she wants it.

2. What if she qualifies and Justin Bieber or whomever makes decision for him says no to her dream? She’s really specific and I know that he works with Make a Wish, not sure if the Sunshine foundation has any pull there…

3. I have to list Emily’s physical disabilities… This sucks so much. I do understand why but it takes all the happy/positive out of this adventure.

If I want her to qualify, I need to show that she is severely physically disabled.

I prefer to look at what she can do!

I NEED to look at what she can do!

The form is asking about her physical movement level of independence and need for assistance:
1. Use of hands/arms
2. Use of legs
3. Sight
3. Hearing

Interaction with others
1. Other children
2. Siblings
3. Adults

Emotional response to
1. Unfamiliar situations
2. Stimulating situations

For each of those questions, I answered partial or limited and attached a list of information.

My attachment is four pages long and make me want to cry.

I have been taking mental notes for months about her struggles and challenges in order to make her application as complete as possible.

I hate, yes hate, that I have to do this to help her maybe realize her dream. I hope and pray to whomever is listening that Emily never see this detailed application.

I would hate for her to see a list of “can’t” when we have been telling her for 15 years to focus on “can”.

I truly dislike forms and assessment. Even the positive ones turn-out to be hurtful.

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One a side note, thank you to whomever is clicking on my top mommy blog icon. I’m now sitting in 31st overall on nearly 4,400 blogs on their site. That’s just truly amazing!

Thank you for reading me and liking my posts!