So…today has been a pretty busy day filled with all the stuff that goes with getting a family ready to go back to school. That includes me! AND…it just hit me a little bit ago.
Taylor, my oldest daughter will be starting her first day of her Senior Year in High School tomorrow. To many of you reading this…this may sound as of no big deal to you…it happens to be something that almost every Mom goes through with their child. Yes…this day was bound and determined to come whether or not I wanted it to.
My truth is…that tomorrow I will be either putting my 17 year old daughter, who has cerebral palsy on a bus or driving her to school for her first day of High School. She will be going on a campus filled with over a thousand students… I have so many mixed emotions that I attempted to write them down…AND then the tears just got in the way…so I decided to record a little video for you…AND maybe just maybe another parent is having a challenging time at this very moment…and they will know that they are not alone.
Today, even though it took every ounce of my being to get my butt out of bed…I got up at 6AM and on my own…put together and ran one of the biggest Garage Sales I have ever done…AND that says a lot for me, because I have been given the title of “Garage Sale Queen”. Not sure if that is a compliment…but in the past it is what I would do a lot. Over the past 17 years, I have searched out and put together my own Garage Sales to reconsolidate along with make an extra bit of cash to earn money for Vacations or other things that are needed when raising a family with 3 children. Since I have been a single Mom, I haven’t searched out as many or held as many as I used to…but I still find that it is a good way to clean out the old about two times a year.
This time, I didn’t have an adult to help me like I have in the past, therefore; this time I was able to get the kids involved. Erin was at my Mom’s house for some one on one time with her before she leaves for Tennessee on Thursday so she wasn’t there to help. Jorden is always a big help in whatever I ask him to do…I just have to ask. AND Taylor…well, Taylor…that is another story. I have to usually put her on some sort of assignment to keep her occupied (i.e….writing signs, organizing the water in the water cooler, pairing shoes). She usually likes to do anything but what I ask…because she wants to seem important to “our customers”. I had her selling water for a dollar and after she sat at her “little” water stand for an hour and no one bought a water…she took matters into her own hands. She started going up to cars, people that were looking at the clothes, and anyone else that would give her eye contact. It got to the point that people just started putting money in her bucket. A true salesman, I say! True indeed!!
Overall, the sale was a success. Not in the area of making money…but a success of providing peace of mind in this brain of mine that I now have a clean cool garage to park a car in! YAY I say!
On our 4th meeting with more than 4 hours sitting in a chair…just today. The IEP (Individualized Education Program) Team has finally come to an agreement in regards to Taylor’s education for the next year. Not all individuals at that meeting were excited or thrilled with my perseverence…however, overall I feel that for the first time in a long time I experienced what was a long time coming…a true IEP where the entire team involved had input and developed an “individualized education program” that what we all think will be best for Taylor and will assist with transitioning her into whats to come after High School.
I’m excited to say next year, Taylor will get to experience a year without a one on one Assistant (in order to provide her independence and more opportunities for self-advocacy skills), She will get to attend a Photography class to emphasize her love for photos, she will get more opportunities to be with her same age non-disabled peers, AND she will get a wide variety of opportunities to learn and develop more functional academic skills and be given a chance to implement them 3-4 times weekly throughout the community (Community Based Instruction), among many more changes that were made.
Wow! I didn’t realize how much the last two months of planning for this IEP has been on my heart and been bothering me so until the IEP was over. I feel so relieved that when I came home I began to feel physically ill. My tummy has been in knots. I am optimistic that I will feel like new in the morning…but for now I think I am going to celebrate with a coca-cola slurpee. (Yes, Ian (my trainer) a slurpee is not on the diet menu…AND, I am going to have one anyways!)
I’m not sure what the future will hold…only God knows that. However, I am excited for the next school year to come to see all the gains Taylor is going to make!
Summer’s coming up fast. Only 7 school days away. I can’t wait! Over the summer we are going to Tennessee to visit our dad which we do every year. We stay for about 2 months. Then we come back and start school till the next summer. The last day of school is june 2nd and on June 17th we will be getting on a flight to go to Tennessee. I wonder what my Mom is going to do without us.
Last Wednesday I was out playing teather ball with my friends when this group of girls came out saw my bible and began laughing at me. Of course I said to them, “yea go ahead laugh all you want, it doesn’t bother me!” Later that evening I told my mom and our friend Jase about it. My mom was proud of me for standing my ground and not letting it bother me. then later that evening I told Jase about it, and the first thing he said was “it’s amazing that I have to go through this stuff because he never had to” He and mom gave me some suggestions on what to do next time. They told me next time to ask the girls what they believe in. They said, ask them if they have faith in anything. This might open up the door to talk about it more. I think I am going to do that. Well, gotta get.
So…today has been a pretty busy day filled with all the stuff that goes with getting a family ready to go back to school. That includes me! AND…it just hit me a little bit ago.
