Recently we posted on Facebook and messaged most of
our family and friends about Laksh’s diagnosis. We wanted to post it before the
end of Down syndrome awareness month so chose the 31st October. As
expected, most of the people we know were surprised (not as much as we were)
with our post but despite that supported us a lot. The common theme being, “you
are brave” and ‘he is lucky”. I understand that it is very nice of people to say
that but honestly, I wonder why we are called brave for loving our child. Isn’t
that something we are supposed to do? Just because he was born with a little
something extra, does that mean we are now brave just for loving him? Also, he
is three months old and has already taught my Husband and I so many things. He
has taught us how to be open, how to be honest, how to focus on the small
victories, how to be kind, how to appreciate the differences, how to truly love
someone unconditionally. He has taught us all this and he is 3 months old.
Again, I understand that it would be difficult to
know what to say and these are among the better things that people have said.
One person commented that he does not look like he has DS. I felt like telling
them, why would we make this up? But instead, thanks to Laksh, I learned to be
nice and only showed gratitude.
A friend messaged me something that I really liked
(though part of his text did mention brave and lucky). He said, “Laksh is lucky
to have parents like both of you. Ds or not, every child has challenges which
Laksh will also have and overcome them with your help and guidance. He will
make both of you proud. Being a parent I can understand how difficult it would
be to talk about these things. You are brave to face your issues head on; maybe
I would not have handled things so gracefully. Good luck to you and lots of
love to Laksh.”
Another friend texted, “Hey, just happened to read
your post on Down syndrome and the fact that Laksh was diagnosed with it. While
I know very little about it and honestly don't know what to say but it was very
heartening to read your post. Glad that you are spreading awareness about it
and most importantly like you said, "Let’s celebrate life and all forms it
comes in!"
I love how open people are to learn and how it is
different from what it was some years ago. I realize that when we were
pregnant, we had envisioned a very normal and kinda boring journey as parents,
but thanks to Laksh we came to understand how amazingly fun this journey can be
. Welcome to Holland. (http://www.our-kids.org/Archives/Holland.html)
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