We Returned, and Conquered!

Today I cried at Seaworld.  It wasn't for the captive animals.  It wasn't for a sweet moment with my kids.  It wasn't because I got hurt .  I died because I was there.  We live in central Florida, so we tend to take theme parks for granted.  But I was there, by myself with 3 children.  We used to have passes and then parenting got hard and we had a colicky baby and a developmentally delayed 2 year old (now known to be Autism), and a strong willed preschooler.  Panic set in just thinking about what could happen at the park.  We gave up our passes.

This was then

Today 10 months later we got them again and I visited the park with 3 kids by myself and we all had a good time.  Time had passed everyone had gotten older and independent.  Life changed as much as it stayed the same.  Our son isn't cured, but we have spent hundreds of hours working with him and learning how to help him where he is.  He got overwhelmed but we got through it.  He wants to go back.  The colicky baby now has a speech delay but he was excited and found some new words, fish, shark.  I still had my three kids but this time we conquered the park and weren't scared.

I never thought this day would come but its here and I will embrace it with a smile, and remember how far we have come.  Yes, there will be new challenges, but we will face them as they come.  We will LIVE our life and not hide from it.

This is our now!