I've learned that I am a visual person. I need to "see" things to process them and fully understand what I'm dealing with. I guess it's for that reason that I love metaphors.
Here's the best way I've come up with to succinctly explain to other visual thinkers like myself what it's like to be a family in our situation...
Having kids with special needs is like being out in the middle of a lake with your family and finding that your row boat has a hole in it. As much as you'd like to stop and enjoy the scenery and experience, you have to start bailing water or everyone is going down. When you look at the big picture, you realize that in order to save your kids, you have to teach them to swim and how do you concentrate on teaching them to swim when you have to try to plug this hole? During all the chaos, sometimes another boat might come by and offer you some assistance for awhile, but their boat is already full and they have to keep their own passengers afloat. Sometimes you find that the other parent has stopped to fish for awhile, leaving you to deal with everything. Other times, you are the parent who just needs a moment to catch your breath. It really is a team effort. All the while, you love your family and enjoy being with them out on the lake, but you wonder how you can all have an enjoyable time, at the same time, and row back to shore.
And did I mention that I don't know how to swim?
Totally superb metaphor! Love it! Some people also seem to have big flashy engines on their boats and their wake makes the bailing/rowing even harder! It's also about learning that the bailing/rowing has hidden silver linings like meeting other families now and again who are doing the same thing! x
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