Jewel wants to say, "Be happy. Don't be sad, be happy."
I viewed the x3 video clips from the cerebral palsy conference in Paris, by Frederic Gues, Essentis and I absolutely love their holistic approach.
I viewed the spastic cerebral palsy clips from CHOC, (children's hospital of orange county) and found them informative. I did learn a lot and at times found myself looking where Jewel would be placed on their charts and this made my heart break. Most times I just see Jewel as a whole person and then there are the fractured moments where I see her in her medical condition and label and these times feel cold and isolated, they hurt. But I am now more able to move past these moments back into the warmth of her smile in the present. I am grateful for Jewel and the wonderful and complexed nature of the whole of her being. I love all my children. They rock my world.
We went to see the horses today. My friend Carrie came along, she is good with horses. Cookie Dough seemed sore and stiff so we ended up stopping our work with him and just enjoyed our time together. We took care of Cookie Dough and Carrie worked with one of the other horses. Jewel just enjoyed watching and being in the garden. It is important that we listen and watch the horse, this is the way we take care to avoid accidents. Taking care of the horse shows that we appreciate all that he has give to us and we show care, respect and gratitude. Hippo therapy is a wonderful therapy but sometimes we need to allow ourselves just to be in the moment and enjoy being alive with out putting a task on to create some sort of meaning. Our lives are meaningful just as they are.
I hate labels but we use them to identify and learn more about each other's needs. Some times labels tend to isolate and alienate us from each other. Jewel has the label cerebral palsy, this makes her different to some people, but she is not less. If you spend time with her you will find that she is more like us than we realized. It is important to always take the time to see the whole person and not just the medical label. And remember that love, joy and laughter is always good medicine.
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