My Greatest Gift

My Greatest Gift I ever received was the birth and the chance to raise my two children. They give me love, hugs and kisses everyday I am with them. We are a family with unconditional love despite any challenges we face. Brandon is now 18 years old and Katelyn is 17 years old. They both have Autism, mostly non-verbal but they both have learned to use a tablet with software to communicate at least their basic needs. They also understand sign language of the alphabet and some basic signs like help, please and thank you. Despite their father leaving us when they were 6 and 5 years old, I have raised them the best to my abilities. Brandon has had many challenges as he has grown older and he is bigger and stronger than me now. He was on the wait list for a few years to be placed in Sunnycrest Manor Care. Thankfully, they had a bed open up when graduated from high school.  They are working with him daily in a feng shui bracelet store now to stay very busy with plenty of exercise and task orientated to doing things he likes.  This is helping to make him useful to society, while supervising him 24/7 to keep him safe from walking into traffic or hurting himself or others. I can now finally focus more on Kate and myself with school. 

Kate is thankfully much calmer and listens better to avoid traffic when told to stop and wait and she doesn't run off on her own. I can raise her on my own for at least 10 or 20 more years before I need to place her there with her brother. It is hard on Brandon right now, with Sunnycrest having another lock down from visitors coming in the building for two weeks because of another resident and staff were found positive for COVID-19. Thankfully we are all vaccinated including Brandon and we can at least visit him outside for as long as he wants to be out there, although it doesn't seem to be more than an hour at time. They both like working on puzzles and art projects with me for which I am grateful. When I have my art studio set up more efficiently organized soon to store my donated supplies and make room for doing DIY classes, I plan to have both my kids join me there to work on projects in the near future. In the past they have helped me unstring a wood bead purse and bamboo door hanger to re-purpose materials, which I still have plenty to use on future projects. They have also helped me use those same materials along with seashells I have collected to decorate lamps, wind chimes and fashion accessories such as a purse and jewelry. Kate helped me paint a tire that I turned into a pet bed for a client. Brandon has had a bad behavior of wanting to rip his clothes to shreds, so I tried to re-purpose them by making loops with him on an old hot pad loom kit. Kate likes to weave them together in very specific rainbow pattern to make piles of matching hot pads. I later weave them together into different styles of totes, bags and rugs for sale.   

I have some physical health issues, but I am not letting them stop me from moving forward. I am thankful I am alive, breathing and able to move around as much as I am able to take care of Kate and my own needs. I have never smoked. I rarely drink. I am trying to eat healthier and exercise more daily to help prolong my life as much as possible. 

I am excited to be going back to school to finish my last year of my Art Education degree. I am thankful for having raised my two kids because besides the love I have received, they taught me patience, the need to remain calm under stress, so I can focus on their needs without increasing their stress level and making them more upset. Not being able to handle the stress of a classroom with screaming kids etc and controlling my temper is the reason I didn't finish my degree 18 years ago, so at the time I just received my BA in Art itself for ceramic sculpture with and emphasis in painting. Thankfully, raising my kids these past 18 years has given me strength, more compassion and understanding to remain calm while I handle any situation that may come in the future. I hope to receive many scholarships so that I can have very little in any additional student loans to finish off my one last year of school to be a K-12 certified Art Teacher. 

Brandon and Kate are both a blessing to me no matter where they will live. I will love and appreciate them being in my life forever. I hope they will not be too sad to live on a long and happy life after I am gone one day.