This blog is a long time coming. After much thought about what I had to contribute to the internet and how I wanted to craft it – I’ve finally decided to take the leap of faith and use this little corner of the internet to call my own.
This blog is about the journey and not the destination and it (as well as my writing) will evolve as I do.
This space will serve two purposes
1) Since I packed up my whole life in June 2020 and relocated to Nashville, Tennessee leaving everything I’ve known my whole adult life behind, it will be a way to document the journey and keep in touch with those who are no longer a short car ride away. Yes – I moved during the Coronavirus pandemic and that entire journey will necessitate a blog post of its own, or at the rate 2020 is going, maybe a book.
2) My MAIN goal on this blog is to share my experience being the sibling of an individual with special needs. Disclaimer: this will NOT be a “positive vs. negative ” evaluation of these circumstances or forum for complaining about the real challenges which can be created these circumstances. It WILL be a honest reflection on how these siblings, like myself, experience life in just a slightly different way than the average person does and there really no conversations about it. I haven’t had conversations like that with anyone except other fellow special needs siblings, have you?
A taste of what’s to come: I’ll tackle topics like: what is it like running errands with a wheelchair? Or the already arduous experience of air travel? How do you answer questions about your siblings disability? What does inviting people into your home life look like? Or isn’t dating hard enough without having to have conversations like potentially becoming your siblings caretaker in the future? What does a personal journey of self-discovery look like when you don’t live in the same house anymore? A preview to that previous question – I still have to figure out if I like things like hiking and skiing (and the great outdoors in general)
Not all experiences are the same, but they are all part of a unique experience that I personally haven’t stumbled upon a forum for; and if me sharing my experience helps one individual that it is worth it in my book, because I’m sure there are more people that can relate in all of our lives that we even know.
But like all complex humans, being a special needs sibling is not what my identity is drawn up in, there will be opportunities to write about the other things important to me. First and foremost my faith, music, books, movies (and the special place in my heart Hallmark Christmas movies inhabit) and just navigating this crazy thing experience called life. The highs, the lows and everything in between, because it’s possible to be real without glossing over the hard things of life and it’s possible to acknowledge these hard things in life without throwing a “woe is me” party (2020 I’m taking an especially long look/ throwing some serious side-eye at you).
Oh, this is the start of something good, don’t you agree … and we can build through this desctruction, as we are standing on our feet
Gavin Degraw, Follow Through