The Rose

I went into Matt’s room last night to give him his 2 a.m. meds and he was smiling in his sleep. I couldn’t help but think about how beautiful he looked.

Special needs kids are kind of like roses.  When they are born, you look around and wonder why you got the rose with all of the thorns when all of the other mothers got perfect flowers. At first, all you notice are the thorns because you are constantly getting pricked and because it’s different than what you were expecting. One day, the rain falls and after the rain, the sun shines just right on the rose and you notice its incredible beauty.  You begin to pay more and more attention to the rose.  It’s different than other flowers because it doesn’t just bloom where it’s planted. It requires different soil, certain temperatures, and different nutrients or it just doesn’t flourish. After a while, you learn how to care for it.  You learn what it likes and what it needs. After many years, you don’t even notice the thorns because you learned how to handle it without getting stuck. Now, you only see its incredible beauty. The rose didn’t change over time, you did.  And that is the beauty of these children.  They are not here for us to change them, but for them to change us.