{"id":141930,"date":"2024-03-06T13:41:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T18:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/cleveland\/?p=141930"},"modified":"2024-03-06T13:41:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T18:41:00","slug":"finding-certainty-within-the-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/cleveland\/finding-certainty-within-the-chaos\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Certainty Within the Chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by Kathleen Ferdico Mural<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The perils of parenting any child are daunting, but when you add the layer of an unexpected diagnosis the chaos can feel exponential.  I remember the weight of feeling like I survived a year of Down syndrome when my son Johnny turned one.  The next year that sentiment was replaced by a sense of foreboding, anxious about all the what-ifs as we navigated specialists, therapists, and development delays; holding my breath and searching for clues that might foreshadow his potential.  At three, something shifted, lifting my fog.  I let myself notice he was doing all the same things his older sisters had done, albeit on a different schedule and sometimes in startlingly creative ways.  I declared myself no longer the mother of a child with a disability\u2014a word I despise because it places immediate attention on the wrong things.  I am simply the mother of three distinctly talented, able, and often exhausting children.  <\/em>Chaos abounds.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There have been a lot of adventures in the 20 years I have been a parent.  My kids roll their eyes and ask why I call them adventures.  I\u2019m not sure how else to label these events and survive intact, ready for the next one.  Broken bones, surgeries, a lost toddler in a New York City subway station, a pandemic.  Forever etched in my soul is the middle of the night visit by firemen and paramedics resulting in three children at once in the emergency room after a carbon monoxide mishap.  Two swabbed positive for strep throat that same night, and it was the middle sib\u2019s birthday–or in her re-telling, the time I tried to kill them.  There\u2019s no other way to remember that evening, except as an ADVENTURE of epic proportion–an \u201cunusual and exciting, typically hazardous experience or activity,\u201d according to the dictionary.  I strongly believe I\u2019m modeling resilience, with a little humor along the way, to help them develop an important life skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During one particularly tumultuous time, we found ourselves in an uphill battle of advocacy for Johnny.\u00a0 Talk about chaos–\u201ccomplete disorder and confusion,\u201d according to the dictionary.\u00a0 The glass half-empty view of adventure.\u00a0 As we considered options, my husband asked how sure I was about what we were contemplating.\u00a0 The question stopped my brain in its tracks. \u00a0I trembled with the realization that I am never really sure when it comes to parenting my three distinctly talented, able, often exhausting children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking about this simple, yet profound question became a deep breath moment as I paused my ricocheting internal dialogue.  I retreated to a quiet space with a pen and notepad.  With surprising ease and clarity, I began to write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n