22: Missing the Obvious
I recently wrote about my dad and his cleft lip.
As soon as I finished that piece I literally sat in shock.
What had just come out of my pen?
Why hadn’t I seen this before?
How had I NEVER in EIGHT years thought of my Dad’s challenges impacting my perception of my own son’s special needs?
The answer didn’t come quick. I waited. I asked.
And then it came.
ALL MY LIFE, it has NEVER occurred to me that my Dad was “different”
…because he never was – not in a negative sense.
I never focused on his lip, I focused on the man, the father, my daddy. That cleft is something that set him apart in the best of ways, that made him more handsome, more compassionate, more strong….and the cleft itself was virtually invisible to me.
I accepted it because it was my reality, because I was born into it. I don’t remember ever pointing it out, ever asking. By the time I was old enough to sort out “same and different” I knew that it was a different that made him more whole.
While I know that “different” that surrounds my son is hard – there is nothing different about my son himself that is negative.
There is a beauty to behold there in his rearranged life, and it is profound.
More on that in a moment. (The Hook part 2 coming up!) Stay tuned
…and reading “The Hook” tonight to a crowd tonight…so pray?!
a Rearranged Life 