{"id":711,"date":"2006-08-09T02:01:12","date_gmt":"2006-08-09T06:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peacefulhippo.wordpress.com\/2006\/08\/09\/711\/"},"modified":"2006-08-09T02:01:12","modified_gmt":"2006-08-09T06:01:12","slug":"711","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/2006\/08\/09\/711\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Grandma was a bit stronger today, and actually ate some food.&nbsp; The doctors yesterday said she might only last a few days, today it was a few weeks.&nbsp; Maybe tomorrow it will be a few years.<\/p>\n<p>It is very scary to be on the verge of getting what you always wanted.&nbsp; The trick is to be more focused on getting what you always wanted than you are on the being scared part.<\/p>\n<p>Hugs,<br \/>Me<\/p>\n<p>=====<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is not our arrogance but our humility that teaches us that who we are is good enough, and what we have to say is valid. It is our own self-hatred that makes it difficult for us to consistently support and nurture other people, because supporting others amounts to supporting ourselves.&#8221;<br \/>&#8211; Marianne Williamson<\/p>\n<p>=====<\/p>\n<p>THESE MOMS SHARE SPECIAL GIFTS<\/p>\n<p>by Erma Bombeck<\/p>\n<p>(published without permission, hehe)<\/p>\n<p>Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures, and a couple by habit. This year, nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how mothers of handicapped children are chosen?<\/p>\n<p>Somehow I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger. &#8216;Armstrong, Beth, son, patron saint Matthew. Forrest, Marjorie, daughter, patron saint Cecelia. Rudledge, Carrie, twins, patron saint&#8230;give her Gerard. He&#8217;s used to profanity.&#8217; Finally he passes a name to an angel and smiles, &#8216;Give her a handicapped child.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The angel is curious, &#8216;Why this one, God? She&#8217;s so happy.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Exactly,&#8217; says God. &#8216;Could I give a handicapped child a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;But has she patience?&#8217; asks the angel.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I don&#8217;t want her to have too much patience, or she will drown in a sea of self pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she&#8217;ll handle it. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I&#8217;m going to give her has his own world. She has to make him live in her world, and that&#8217;s not going to be easy.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;But, Lord, I don&#8217;t think that she even believes in you.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>God smiles, &#8216;No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The angel gasps, &#8216;Selfishness? Is that a virtue?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>God nods, &#8216;If she can&#8217;t separate herself from the child occasionally, she&#8217;ll never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child less than perfect. She doesn&#8217;t realize it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a spoken word. She will never consider a step ordinary. When her child says Momma for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it! When she describes a tree or a sunset to her blind child, she will see it as few people ever see my creations.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I will permit her to see clearly the things I see&#8230;ignorance, cruelty, prejudice&#8230;and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life, because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;And what about her patron saint?&#8217; asks the angel, pen poised in midair.<\/p>\n<p>God smiles, &#8216;A mirror will suffice.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>=====<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grandma was a bit stronger today, and actually ate some food.&nbsp; The doctors yesterday said she might only last a few days, today it was a few weeks.&nbsp; Maybe tomorrow it will be a few years. It is very scary to be on the verge of getting what you always wanted.&nbsp; The trick is to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}