…where a brave and beautiful bunch gather every week to find out what comes out when we all spend five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing ‘em over here.

Go:

She’s anything but and yet incredibly so. So ordinary in ways we couldn’t imagine based on the generalizations we were presented with when she was born. Would she speak? Would she walk? Would she go to school and learn? Would she know who we are? Would she nurse? Would she be a sister to dear Zuzu?

When the child in your heart and belly comes along with warnings of the complexities of her growth you find yourself backing up your hopes, your dreams your expectations: Dear God, give me an ordinary day. One where we wake and nurse and cuddle and play. Let her be healthy and happy. That’s not too much to ask for is it?

Now, four years into this journey, she just is. 

Yes she speaks, in her own way, in her own time, with much help from our community. Yes she walks, she also jumps and runs and tumbles and plays. Yes she will go to school, and it thrills her to have the attention of her teachers and classmates. She happily follows along and eagerly takes in what you take the time to teach her. Yes she knows her family. She asks for us by name when we are not there. She tells us what the other is doing. If the baby is sad, she runs for a grown-up and a tissue. If her big sister takes her toy she bellows and wallops her. If her mom grabs her purse on a Tuesday or Thursday morning, she pulls her backpack over her shoulder and chants her teacher’s name. If her Dad suggests a park run, she rifles through the shoe box for her purple crocs. Yes she nursed, with a lot more help than the average baby but also a lot more determination. Yes she knows her big sister and her baby by heart.  In the evening, she crawls up on the oversized couch with her legs criss-cross-applesauce and holds out her hands for her snuggle time with the baby. She crawls into bed beside her sister and lays down her sweet head at the end of the day, as comfortable in her place in that bed as she is her place in our hearts and family.

Those experts, they didn’t know. They couldn’t predict her.

She is so very ordinary.

And yet, she is so not.

Stop.