Resolutions

In this new year, filled with promise, this is my hope: that I will give these gifts to my daughter as we continue our journey on the spectrum. May God give me the clarity, the will and the strength to…

Believe ~ in the infinite possibilities that lie within my daughter. Even when others are blind to them.

Hope ~ that for every storm that autism brings our way, a rainbow will follow.

Laugh ~ more than I cry. Because, as The Indigo Girls said, “It’s only life after all.”

Learn ~ all that my daughter has to teach me. The lessons are endless, if I am open to them.

Fight ~ for her place in this world. No matter how tough and tiring the battle and no matter the strength of my opponent.

Listen ~ to what she is saying, even when she can’t find the words to express what is in her heart.

Love ~ all of who she is, even when autism challenges my parenting to the core and God knows it will.

Let go ~ stand back and let my daughter try. Even if it means she will falter and fail. That is how she will learn and grow.

Be present ~ and not let the worries of tomorrow and the struggles of the past, diminish the gift of today.

Share ~ our story, her story. To humanize autism and give it a face, is to create a more tolerant and accepting society. I want so much to give that to her.

Struggle ~ even when it would be easier to throw my hands up and walk away.

Stop ~ take a breath, count to ten, walk away… and come back to my daughter with a renewed sense of patience.

Nurture ~ her strengths, her abilities and most importantly her sense of self.

Challenge ~ her fears and her anxieties. In helping her to conquer those demons, she will see that she is far more powerful than they can ever be.

Get up ~ and brush myself off, every time that autism kicks my mothering behind.

Comfort ~ when the days are hard, the kids are mean and the world seems a cruel and unfair place. May I make our home a haven, a safe place, a shelter from life’s storms.

Guide ~ but not lead. My daughter needs to set her own course sometimes. I can be her compass.

Forgive ~ myself on the days when I miss the mark, when I am not the best mother I can be. When one or more of these resolutions falls by the wayside, may I be kind to myself, let it go and resolve to do better tomorrow.

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning, but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” Hal Borland