Today was a big day! This morning I dropped Kevin off at Dovercourt’s WAVE Ottawa program. It was the first day back since the program closed on March 13th, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic shut down.
As we were on our way this morning, I realized that Kevin was the first one from our house out the door and back to “regularly scheduled programming.”
Once we got there, Kevin did his happy dance/walk from the car to the door, so it was clear he was delighted to be there.
Thanks to Tranquil Acres, Kevin has been back horseback riding for most of the summer, and it was this step that helped Kevin get back to riding and practice wearing a mask, which helped prepare him for more hours in the community.
This morning on our drive, I realized how thankful I am that Dovercourt and the WAVE program were brave enough to take this step and open its doors. And I know we are fortunate that Kevin is in good health and he can go back, and not everyone has this luxury.
Since the beginning of COVID-19, there have been many conversations at our house about pandemic life with an adult child with special needs. We have worked for many years to help Kevin grow into his “big life,” and when it disappeared overnight, the risks of being of Kevin becoming marginalized seemed all too real.
I knew early on that we couldn’t shouldn’t take for granted Kevin’s return to the WAVE program, and community life, and I heard many other parents speak about similar concerns.
When it came time to decide whether Kevin could return to his program, we knew he should go. He was ready to go and he had been waiting months for it to happen.
I’m not saying I’m not nervous about it. Of course I am. The big knot in my neck made me realize that Kevin’s return to this “new normal” was on my mind more than I knew.
But that doesn’t mean we’re not willing for Kevin to step out and take back some of the pieces of his life. After all, not having places to go, friends to see and new experiences would be crushing for Kevin, so it was a risk we feel we need to take.
For many months now, I’ve been thinking about bringing A Sharmed Life blog back to life. This pandemic is such a unique time in our lives and it feels that we should share our thoughts, so we can remember this time.
This blog was born A Sharmed Life: NYC…one block at a time. We don’t live in NYC anymore, but one block at a time is more relevant now than ever, and perhaps this has always been the case. One block at a time still represents our everyday life, only now it means one step at a time, one day at a time, one phase at a time.
Happy to be back “A Sharmed life…one block at a time!“
A Sharmed Life! 