My Facebook friends will have seen the events of last week. Anna got a summons for the jury.
Really.
At first, it didn't register what it was. Then I said, "No way. NO way!" And I laughed and laughed. My first thought was to take her for her duty. I imagined bringing her in the courthouse and introducing her to everyone. I imagined her babbling and sitting with her feet up and maybe having a seizure. I planned to say, "This is the type of person you summoned to sit on the jury!" Then I would blast them for being so clueless. Everyone urged me to take her. Call the newspaper, they said. Call the freeholders, they said. Show them how stupid they are, they said.
I was ready to do that. But when I started thinking about it, the question of how they got Anna's name and address came to mind. She's not registered to vote. She doesn't have a driver's license. Had someone stolen her identity? The humor wore off quickly. Within a short time, we discovered Anna's picture ID was the culprit, as we got it at Motor Vehicles a year and a half ago. I called the courthouse and explained the situation. They're going to send me a questionnaire to fill out to get Anna excused.
And you know what followed? Grief. Deep, intense grief. Just when I thought there wasn't anything else to grieve for Anna, the milestone of serving on the jury came along.
Oh, when will the grief end?? Unfortunately, there will be more things to grieve, I'm afraid. Mary will graduate college next year. My grandson will start Kindergarten in September.
A well meaning friend sent me the story that compares having a special needs child to a trip to Holland instead of the trip to Paris or somewhere exciting that expecting a child brings. Are you familiar with it? Even that caused grief, because the story, while nicely written, doesn't allow for the ongoing and deep grief that comes with things like graduations and jury duty. It fools you into thinking kids like Anna are a gentle and lovely thing, like tulips and windmills. But it's not. Not anything close. Tulips and windmills are no comparison to ER runs, doctor visits, seizures, autism, and developmental delay. The Holland story makes parents who don't have a special needs child feel better. Those of us who do, know better.
So, are you grieving today? Let me know and I'll pray for you as you pray for me. Grief makes us feel alone, but we aren't. We have each other.
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A Sister's Love
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Show You!
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Going Commando
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So Behind
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Big Big Changes
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I Confess
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A Rough Day
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Things I've Learned - part five
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Things I've Learned - part three
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Things I've Learned - part two
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4/3/2013
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Tim's Place
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Being Thankful
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Frankenstorm
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The Cloaking Device
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The Things People Say - part seven
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The Things People Say - part six
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The Things People Say - part one
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The Rest of my Life?
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Feelings
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