The power of shared stories
Why I write about my child
In the beginning I was hesitant to put much of anything about Nolan on social media, or even the internet for that matter. To be honest, I was still learning how to approach everything that we were dealing with, and I didn’t want it to be uncomfortable for anyone. Or even I, because if you are in the situation it takes some time to adjust. Even to this very day I still consider the things I post online to be well-below what many others might put. Looking back it seems to be rather similar to our other child as well. I just didn’t…and when I did it was very little. I was and still do feel that in some sort of way I’m protecting them from something further down the road. If your curious, I came from a generation that didn’t have social media until I was well into college, and almost done. It’s something that I will probably never get use to.
I guess that most people that know me personally know that I have a 75/25 percent ratio. That means that whatever you see online, there is usually 75 percent of things going on in the background that I haven’t shared with the world.
Yes, I also keep a very active journal or at least 3 that I have going on all at the same time. I still print pictures, put them into photo albums, and write the details on the back. I still buy DVD’s, I have a collection of CD’s, and I still listen to cassette tapes on occasion. That’s just how I’m wired.
However, in the midst of all of that, and putting in all that work, I became more fascinated with stories and the people that shared those stories. When Nolan arrived, I almost felt that reading others stories, helped me to drift a little farther from my own struggles and distractions. When I listen to a story, or read one, I learn.
There really aren't many stories that I can find about both down syndrome and hydrocephalus. At this point, there really isn’t much research either. It’s simply rare, that’s all, just rare. So when I think about who might be looking to read or hear stories that’s in a similar situation, I strongly considered myself to be available.
Even further, if someone was going to be the one to carry Nolan’s story, then I wanted that to be me. At least for now, he isn’t able to share his own, so I will walk beside him with my voice, and let that be what others read and hear. Help, assistance, and guidance all come from numerous sources, and all of those have led us this far. Oddly enough a lot of our help has been from listening to others.
One generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts.
Psalm 145:4 ESV
This has been an exhausting, emotional, and really joyous story for us up to this point. I know that after reading some of my posts it can seem that we are under water most of the time, but kids with down syndrome bring something to the scene that I could never have imagined.
I will finish by saying that
Stories help people.
Stories inspire people.
Stories help to overcome.
And the stories that you choose to share can help someone you have never met through something you might never imagine. If you don’t want to share it with the world, write it in a journal, because someone somewhere will read it one day, and they will appreciate it.