Perspective That Hits Like a Mack Truck
By Nadine Briggs
As some of you know, my 18 year old daughter, Megan, has Down syndrome and attends a residential school about 90 minutes from our home. Being Megan’s mother has given me much joy but has also given me a vast amount of experience in solving challenging problems. Lots and lots of very complicated, intertwined problems for which there are usually multiple causes and complex solutions. Megan was home this week as we were in the throes of such a problem. A medically complex but not dangerous problem.
Then the news hit that one of her closest friends passed away in her sleep at school. We had just seen her laughing and dancing the week before, seemingly happy and healthy, and just like that, she was gone forever.
My daughter understands death. She knows exactly what it means. Her level of compassion for others is unmatched. She is deeply saddened by her own loss but thinks of the family’s grief alongside her own.
Perspective came like a Mack truck. A lightning bolt to my soul. We’ll figure out whatever we have to figure out. We always have and we always will. The problem solving or acceptance of the problem may happen at 4:00 am but it will happen.
My daughter has what she calls “moments”when she needs to grieve. She cries and she needs the arms of those who love and understand her to hold her close. During those times, as I hold her even closer, what she doesn’t realize, is that I’m having a moment of my own.
