The Top 5 Things a Special Needs Parent/Care Giver Might Want For Christmas

I read a post on Facebook earlier about 10 things a special needs mom might want for Christmas and thought of my own list... here it goes.

The top 5 things a special needs parent/care giver might want for Christmas that is guaranteed not to come wrapped in pretty packaging underneath the Christmas tree...

#5 - Someone to help carry the burden. It's easy for a special needs parent/care giver to feel alone in their journey with their special needs child. It's extremely difficult to feel like you're the only one who worries about scheduling and attending doctors' appointments,  refilling a long list of medications, fighting with insurance or DME companies over supplies, worrying about how you're going to pay for therapies/treatments your child needs and whether or not your child will wake up another day when you lay down to sleep.

#4 - Alone time. In the craziness of all those dreaded hospital/doctors' trips, sometimes you just need a break from all the worry and pain. No beeping alarms, no breathing treatments, medications to give, positioning to do, bills to fret over. Just you with nothing to do, nowhere to be and no one to take care of. An hour of peace and quiet.

#3 - Understanding. I know from experience how it feels like no one really understands. You crave people who can actually relate to you and don't look at you like you've lost your mind when you excitedly tell them how your 5 year old ate a cracker by mouth without throwing it up. You know, people who know a little something about kids who aren't "normal" and don't do things on a "normal" schedule.

#2 - To see a smile on the face of your child, to hear him/her laugh or make a single sound. Us special needs parents/care givers know just how precious these things are because a lot of us never get them, or once did but no longer do. You hope and pray for this one little thing that so many others take for granted because if you could just see/hear your child, you could have hope for one more day.

#1 - A miracle. Wouldn't it be nice to wake up one day, any day, to discover your child has finally received that miracle you've been desperately hoping and praying for? That miracle cure that makes all the pain and sadness go away? I know I would give anything in the world if my daughter could just get that miracle!

I'm sure you all have your own list of things you might want for Christmas that doesn't come in pretty packaging and that you're sure not to find under your tree this year. Share these things and I'll post them here!