As I listened to your segment, I thought about my mother-in-law and her granddaughter, my niece K’anesha. “KiKi” was born with some form of developmental disability, I’m not sure what. But, like your dear Sophie, KiKi will have some limitations to her capacity to fully experience… and learn to cope with… life, at least as most other young ladies are capable of doing…

I remember my wife’s mother explaining the anxiety and frustration of trying to teach K’anesha about puberty and her menstrual cycle… Mom would have turned backflips to get her hands on a teaching tool like ‘Pink Slip’!

Mom muddled her way through. And as the legal guardian, she has shown such loving care of her special granddaughter! Today, KiKi is eighteen years old, a young adult. Her limitations are obvious to all, but… with Mom’s loving support… she’s doing just fine!

I’m going to tell my mother-in-law about you, about your NPR segment, and about your blog… I think she will be very encouraged to hear what you have to share…

By the way, thank you for sharing. And thank you for the honest way in which you do so… many blessings!

Sophie sounds like a remarkable girl and you sound like an astonishing Mom. My daughter Moy Moy is 25 now. While she doesn’t have Sophie’s quite stunning self-awareness, she has jolted us into epiphanies and revelations we are still swimming through.

I’ll be following your journey. Mine is at http://www.latikaroy/jo

All the best.

Jo

Good on you.