Weston’s Story
Weston had his appointment this week with Dr. Casimiro (yes, Don agreed to make the long drive). I got to thinking about Don’s (and mine) reluctance to take Weston to see Dr. Casimiro. Reluctance is probably not the correct word really. My sister, Carmen, goes to see one of the other doctors and absolutely loves, loves, loves the experience. In her case, she is the one who decides to go because she feels it is of benefit to her health (and I agree with her). In Weston’s case it is him who decides and Don and I are left to decide if we want to take him. Basically, my son who can’t speak is telling me to take him to a doctor I can’t see! Of course, when we get there and see the doctor we are always glad we made the drive. But honestly the whole idea of going to see a doctor whom we cannot see sometimes “pushes the envelope” so to speak.
The morning of our appointment Don was whining and asking me to make sure that Weston really needed to go because he was wanting to bail on the whole idea. I was also thinking about all the things I could be doing that day instead of taking him to see Dr. Casimiro and I did ask Weston one more time via the white board, and he emphatically hit the “yes” response. Of course, I knew this was going to happen When I told Don, he kind of snorted and didn’t really want to hear anything but “Weston says he no longer needs to go.” I explained to Don that we needed to trust that even though we may not see immediate results from these visits, we needed to respect Weston and his wishes and go. Don immediately changed his attitude and agreed (albeit reluctantly) that we would go (and yes, I did get him lunch on the way!).
I think as parent there are so many things I don’t understand about why Weston wants/needs what he does, and it gets to be too much sometimes. Don and I have found that during these times the only thing that you can count on is your sense of humor. I guess we are frightened sometimes to completely trust 100% that all of this is possible. When Weston requests something that is out of our comfort zone for whatever reason, it really challenges us. We stick together as a couple and a family, and I am happy to share with you these moments when my faith is pushed to the brink (of sanity). Talking about it with each of you helps to remind me that it is okay to be out of your comfort zone but it is not okay to not respect these kids just because we don’t understand. I decided to get more insight from Weston on this subject, and here is what he had to say (as voiced by Meg Lupin)...
- Weston, what can you tell the parents of "differently-abled" kids about their kids that they may not realize or understand?
These children are so gifted it is amazing. They are coming in with many of the advanced skills that many of you have been trying to develop over the years or have marveled about in others. They are helping YOU. They are pushing you to limits and setting you up to move beyond any of your inherited blockages.