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I adore the website The Mighty and all the work they do to help bring awareness and take away stigma. I am not ashamed to admit that I have cried over more than one of their posts. When I have read a post about a family that has a similar situation as my own family's or when someone else writes the words that my heart has been longing to hear, it is a healing thing. It is a moment in which I realize "I am not alone!" and that is huge. It can be so very isolating being the mama, the family, of special needs children.
As part of raising awareness is about giving those that often are not seen or heard a voice and a presence, I want to open up this blog to those that would like to share. That would like to have their story or their children's stories told. I am imagining something like The Mighty's posts but poems, photo essays, and more would be welcome. We each have our own special way of sharing and bringing awareness- what is yours? And would you like to share and help spread awareness? I have been bringing paper and pencils with me wherever I go. As the mama of two little ones who don't have the same nap or bedtime schedule, getting time to be creative can be tricky sometimes. So I sketch and paint whenever I can grab a moment. I feel so inspired by this project that I don't want to miss a single chance to draw when I get the chance. I also am so inspired by the families that have been sharing their stories with me. I am honored to try to capture a tiny bit of what they go through and mostly bring awareness to those needs. There are so many invisible portions of each of these needs that is impossible to fully capture them in a painting, I wish it was. But I know how hard each and every one of these families works to give their child(ren) a life where they can not just survive but thrive.
Some of the upcoming needs I will be focusing on: Hearing loss/hard of hearing/deafness (this is such a big category that I don't feel that one Critter will even vaguely cover it, so there will be quite a few Critters in the future with this focus), diabetes and insulin pumps, glasses and patching, ports, IgE allergies/need for EpiPens, UP, and quite a few more. Here is a sneak peak of a couple of the ones I am working on... |
AuthorI am the mama of 4 wonderful children, two who are Rare. We live on a small farm up two dirt roads. Archives
February 2017
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