Forrest and Jenny

So something about being away from home that I had not anticipated is that Rett Syndrome is constantly punching us in the face...we are out of our comfort zone. At home we do the same things, in the same way, with the same people, for the majority of each day.  So here we are in a completely different place, with only strangers, and trying to figure out each day and how it can be successful. It is a little overwhelming...to say the least.


I wrote a whole long post this morning and it began with the preceding paragraph. Unfortunately, after that paragraph I lost my Internet connection and did not realize it so the entire post (minus that paragraph) was lost. I just want to say really quickly what the gist of the post was, however. It was sad and I am kind of glad it got lost because I have a much nicer topic to write about. The post, titled "Forrest and Jenny" as this one is still titled, told about how Chad and I were watching Forrest Gump last night and I lost it when I watched Forrest plowing through the crowd to get to Jenny after his accidental speech at the anti-war rally. And as they waded through the reflecting pool into each other's arm, I just began sobbing because Lucy is so awesome and I want her to be able to have a Forrest in her life. I want her to have someone, outside of her family, that loves her and understands her, and always keeps trying to understand her. That looks past her Rettness and sees Lucy for Lucy.

But I lost that post and it's okay. Then today the sweetest thing happened when we were out for lunch. After we were finished eating, Chad and Lucy went to the toy store and I went to the restroom.  As I was leaving, the young girl that had found a table for us said that she just wanted to tell me what an adorable family we were and how happy we seemed. She said that she sees so many people who seem like they might just be happy because they have lots of money and because they are on vacation, but that she could tell we were just genuinely happy and loved being together! It brought tears to my eyes and I found Chad and Lu in the toy store and told them what the girl had said. I said later how wonderful of an observation that was, given the year we have had and the huge, pretty heartbreaking, and life changing news we received.  That in spite of all of that, we are still happy, and we are people who don't let "life" be the boss of us and keep us down, but make ourselves the boss of life.  We ARE happiest when we are together, but I never knew that outsiders noticed that.

I am still going to add the picture that I was going to add to the original post because it is relevant to both that one and this one.

Lu and her "Forrest"