Happy Anniversary!

I celebrated an anniversary last week. With the end of summer and the start of school, the actual date passed me by. It’s been a year since I started writing this blog.

When I began writing, I wasn’t sure where this was going to lead me. I did it because, after years writing about politics, business and personal finance, I wanted to write about something I was passionate about.

I expected to focus my journalistic instincts on the many issues of raising a disabled child. I thought I would write about many different disabilities and the myriad issues facing those families. I was hoping to attract others connected to disabled families to share and contribute their experiences.

Some of that has happened. But, as is often the case – especially for families with disabled children – things didn’t unfold as expected.

When I started writing Deane was a happy, loving 14 year old about to start high school. While there were inklings of the teenager – watching a Rush DVD every morning (What keeps you going) – life continued much as it had been when he was little. He was disabled, but not medically complicated.

What I didn’t know at the time was that our family’s life was about to be tossed upside down. Deane’s hip surgery in December consumed our lives. Not only did winter not happen – no Christmas, no skiing – but our normal routine around the house with family dinners and Saturday morning snuggles in Deane’s bed disappeared.

The blog became my outlet and your responses our support. I had never meant to write about our lives every day and in such detail. My journalistic training forbids that kind of navel-gazing narcissism. But the encouragement from friends, family and followers who have joined along the way gave me the strength – and the permission – to continue.

We got through the non-winter and lurched into an odd summer of feeding tubes and home care bureaucracy. It feels like a long way from where we began.

So here we are a year and a bit after I began and I want to say thank you to all of you – those I know well and those I’ve only met online – for reading, commenting and supporting us in this journey. I hope you’ll join us as we embark on the next leg of this adventure – whatever it may involve.

Ijeoma