They all have children with cerebral palsy and somehow it feels like my life is NORMAL when I'm with them!
I don't have to explain how tiring it is to always find a letter about a doctor's appointment in the mail, how I can't open a closet w/o making a mental note of when I have to place the next order of whatever is in that closet, how to try being a mom/wife with other people in the house all the time and so on! They all have that as well; we rarely talk about those things, but we all share the understanding that everything we do, is besides all that! We all share a main priority and everything else is second!
These are the girls (women:-)?) I started the Swedish Cerebral Palsy Association with! We take time out every 3-4 months to go see each other, do some board work, but mostly just hang out, talk, laugh (a lot), cry (one of us usually break apart at some time during the weekend), eat good, drink good and SLEEP (not all have night assistance as Liam has, so they are still up most nights, like I was, until a year ago!)
This picture is from the first meeting! Since then three more have joined. Upper row left is Josefin, mother of Julia, who is just a couple of months older than Liam. I have known her since fall of 2004. Josefin is a troubled soul, dealing a lot with her experiences as a child/growing up; some of it, I gather, is running away from feelings about what happened to Julia. Julia has a sister, Linnéa, 3 years old!.
On my right is Camilla, mother of Jacob, 5 years old. He is a lot like Liam, no speech, mentally challenged, severe epilepsy and all that. Jacob has a brother, Samuel, who is 12!
Kattis (Katharina), to the left, has three little boys! We first met on the Internet, on a pregnant-website! We met for coffee a couple of times while pregnant; went for rides with the car to the countryside! It wasn't like we hit it off real good; it was more convenient since we lived real close to each other! After Robert and I moved out of the city to our first house, it took about six months and Kattis and her husband moved there too! We have been sisters ever since!
Elias has hemiplegia, epilepsy, but his main issue is ADHD. His brothers are Isak (my godson) 4, and Daniel, 1! Kattis is now pregnant with twins...!
Sofia is a very special friend! She is the mother of River, 5½ years and Phoebe, 3 (her husband is Brittish and an ex-hippie (he suggested Max would be named Star, had he been a girl:-))).
River has severe cerebral palsy, but has no impairment to his mental development!
Camilla and I, who have children who do, think that that must be much harder... Sofia, Kattis and Josefin think it is harder for us:-)!
River is smart a whip, but gets frustrated a lot when he can't do all he wants to do!
Sofia is from the north, but left her home and family (very religious), after her mother said she got River for her sins! She now lives south of Stockholm!
Sofia is the caretaker of all the moms! She always have time to answer the same questions over and over, so that all new cp-moms know how to do, what authorities to contact, what to put in an application and what to leave out! Before Max, I used to do that, too! Nowadays I concentrate on the families with bonding issues, or/and those saying "my child can not do anything" (ALL children can do something, most can do ANYTHING/EVERYTHING, some just need a little help)!
Sofia also looks out for our special group and alert the rest of us when we need to get to work with someone who is not doing well! She alerted me that one of us (Sara, who is not in the picture) was in really bad shape in December! I did what I could, took over the admin for all staff of Sara's son for a while... Sara, however, is also a strong-minded person, who has difficulties letting someone else take charge, so she is just now starting to recover... I am glad to see some of my advice have been used!
Sofia is a lot like me! She takes defeats well and knows that being strong is not about not falling apart! It is about being able to still look forward and ahead!
Since this picture was taken, Caroline and Stephanie are now also part of the board. Caroline is the mother of Sebastian, also playing in Liam's league, but with a lot more respitory problems! Sebastian has a sister, Lovisa, who is 1½.
Stephanie is the mother of Olivia, 7, who is a lot like River. Stephanie is a happy-go-lucky kind of person; always laughing! I have known her for about two years over the Internet, but only mer her once! It is to her house we are going this time!
It is getting really late, but I'm glad I took the time to tell you about my very special friends! They mean the world to me! I'll post pictures from the trip on Sunday!
I hope you have the best of times on the Riviera!!! We love and miss you SOOOOOO much!!!!
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