Brew Ha Ha Reflection 2022
November 16, 2022
It’s been 4 years, 6 months, and 11 days of me becoming a new person, really living through a rebirth of myself. And like all new life, there are seasons of wonder and beauty and pure joy, and there’s the hard. Everything must be learned: how to feed, how to rest, how to communicate, how to relate to others. You learn boundaries, often by testing them. You make mistakes, fall down, and have bad days. But through it all, you grow and change and learn. Rocking an extra chromosome makes all these things harder. Our kids are major over-comers! And it’s no different with parenting. Each phase brings on new challenges, in different, harder ways.

I have failed. Oh so many times. My relationships now do not look the same as they once did. I grieve that. I grieve so much. But last night at GiGi’s annual Brew Ha-Ha, I sat in a room full of other people with similar stories.
I sat with mama bears who have strong, loud voices born out of fierce love and grief. I sat with women broken by the unexpected but at the same time resolute and laser focused on unconditional love. I sat with adults who have lived every day with an extra chromosome, overcoming challenges that I’m not sure I am strong enough to overcome.
I am so thankful we found a place for my Lael who is my entire world. I am so glad we found a place that has widened our own understanding, paved pathways in our hearts for more love, and taught us to sit with the treasure that is all around us rather than chasing what the rest of the world sees as valuable.

We’re always so afraid of different. But different is what really teaches us the good stuff in life.
Thank you GiGi’s for another reminder of all the good that still exists in this world. So much of it was right there in this room last night.
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Thank you to Lael’s mom, Amy Stack, for this beautiful impact reflection!
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