What is here today?
Gratitude for the professionals that are guiding us while also respecting our wishes. Joy with all the trim options for color (navy with emerald accents), matte or gloss (matte), and embroidery (“Captain Alden”), that make this process personalized and fun. Hope for a future of ramps that lead us to yet unknown adventures, advocates, friends, and communities who know disability is diversity.
What is not here today?
Anger, disbelief, or fear. This is his story, and it is not tragic.
The only thing that I did not immediately recognize was the ache inside me, where sorrow and joy unite. The tenderized heart that has been strained and stretched into a new elasticity that can wrap itself around the story of Alden, in all its uncertainty and imperfection, and say yes. Again and again we will honor this child, his story, and ours along with it.
