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As Featured on Tova Leigh's Blog: My Thoughts ABout StuffWe feel it. Baby fever. A friend has a baby, and we simply get one whiff of that new baby smell and it hits us like a train. We want another baby. The thoughts and feelings of being a parent to a newborn surround us like a nice warm blanket. However, once we announce our intentions, people are quick to break down our need. You want another one? Haven't you learned enough from your other child? Why would you want to roll the dice again? You might get another child like your first. That's too much. That's a bad idea. Your genes are clearly defective.
Faced with the financial burden of two special needs children and having only ONE income, Tony and I struggle to get out for special time together that doesn't cost us an arm and a leg. It's near impossible for us to find any cheap attractions. Our city isn't full of interesting history or museums or touristy kind of things to do. Definitely not on the cheap, either. So how do we use all these respite hours that are meant to help us bond out of the house when we have NO money to spend?
**This list can help any couple get out on the cheap, too. It isn't just geared toward special needs parents.** This post isn't geared solely to parents of special needs parents, though that may be what I usually focus on. All people from all walks of life are overworked, over rushed and overwhelmed. It's the curse of the modern age. Being a parent in this wild world is becoming more and more of a challenge, like balancing on a tightrope with a knife on your nose and fire below you. Like the fall wasn't enough to kill you. I often feel like I'm walking on the tight rope as a parent. As a person. My kid's challenges weigh on my shoulders, as do my own struggles. I have a home to care for, and a relationship to keep alive. One slip and I fall into the fires of life altering debt, single parenthood, the judges of society, and a depression so deep that I might never come out of. However, I changed things around for myself. The tightrope isn't so thin. I found out that there are things I can do to make myself take a step back and enjoy my life on tight rope. Maybe you've heard about them online, in a book or a therapist has recommended it for your child, but what about these blankets is a big deal?
For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move. – Robert Louis Stevenson There is no greater fear nor excitement that comes from relocating. There is no greater need to see what's out there, and search for something more. Something, different. Something...mysterious.
Jumping back into reality, the modern world has made it damn hard but utterly convenient to move. The only thing that really holds us back, besides the suffocating security of routine around us, is literally our own family. Our own life. Kids! And if you have any sort of special need, disability or impairment? FORGETTTTABOUTIT!!! But seriously. There is more out there, so much more. Don't let that fear hold you too tight. Don't deny your need. Don't stay unhappy in a place because of your child. I can promise, there are a million possibilities out there. A million different lives you could be leading. I'm not going to push you out the door and throw your clothes after you. I'm even going to lay off on the whole "adventure is out there" bit. What I'm just saying is, there are other places that will cater to your life's high needs and be able to satisfy your need for a landscape change. |
AuthorGabrielle Rae is a special needs, stay at home mommy of two boys. She enjoys reading and writing novels in her spare time. @onbothfrontsArchives
August 2018
Tell me. |