. . . we need a perspective adjustment. I had one today.
Through our daughter's experience as a caregiver/physiotherapist through Community Care Access for the past several years, we have had the privilege of having some really beautiful little kids come into our home for an afternoon.
Of course, they are usually special needs kids - that is why our daughter sees them.
Today, I met for the first time a little girl who bears the cross of cerebral palsy, albeit in a milder form than some. This little girl was 1 lb. at birth and is still a small and frail looking 11 years old.
But the smile that she shares! It's like the autumn sun that breaks out from behind a dark cloud this time of year!
I asked her what she likes to do on such a dreary fall day, maybe go out and build a few mud castles? She looked at me, not sure how to take it.
After a few minutes she asked me "Are you serious about building mud castles?"
"Well", I said "would you like to go build a few because if you would like to, we could likely find lots of mud to build them with"?
She slowly replied "Yes, I think I would like to do that. I haven't built mud castles for a long time."
Well as it turned out, she wasn't dressed for playing in the mud today. Our daughter tactfully suggested that her good shoes and clothes wouldn't look too good when we came back in.
So we took a "rain check" on our plans of building mud castles and spent a bit of time discussing what "tools" we would need to build mud castles.
She appeared to be delighted at the prospect of building mud castles. And to tell you the truth, I can hardly wait to get out into the garden next time she comes and build a whole town of mud castles.
Cuz you see I just come to hate the mud since this time of year brings a whole lot of it around here. When I feed the cows, the mud sucks at my boots and the feeders are surrounded by it.
It will be like this until freeze up. I have a long time to hate it.
So building castles out of it with a little girl whose handicap prevents her from many of the activities that most of us take for granted - well that just gives a whole different view of mud.
It can actually be fun for a few minutes.
Through our daughter's experience as a caregiver/physiotherapist through Community Care Access for the past several years, we have had the privilege of having some really beautiful little kids come into our home for an afternoon.
Of course, they are usually special needs kids - that is why our daughter sees them.
Today, I met for the first time a little girl who bears the cross of cerebral palsy, albeit in a milder form than some. This little girl was 1 lb. at birth and is still a small and frail looking 11 years old.
But the smile that she shares! It's like the autumn sun that breaks out from behind a dark cloud this time of year!
I asked her what she likes to do on such a dreary fall day, maybe go out and build a few mud castles? She looked at me, not sure how to take it.
After a few minutes she asked me "Are you serious about building mud castles?"
"Well", I said "would you like to go build a few because if you would like to, we could likely find lots of mud to build them with"?
She slowly replied "Yes, I think I would like to do that. I haven't built mud castles for a long time."
Well as it turned out, she wasn't dressed for playing in the mud today. Our daughter tactfully suggested that her good shoes and clothes wouldn't look too good when we came back in.
So we took a "rain check" on our plans of building mud castles and spent a bit of time discussing what "tools" we would need to build mud castles.
She appeared to be delighted at the prospect of building mud castles. And to tell you the truth, I can hardly wait to get out into the garden next time she comes and build a whole town of mud castles.
Cuz you see I just come to hate the mud since this time of year brings a whole lot of it around here. When I feed the cows, the mud sucks at my boots and the feeders are surrounded by it.
It will be like this until freeze up. I have a long time to hate it.
So building castles out of it with a little girl whose handicap prevents her from many of the activities that most of us take for granted - well that just gives a whole different view of mud.
It can actually be fun for a few minutes.