This Too Shall Pass....Wait, Maybe Not!

If you've ever been to my house in the last, say, 10 YEARS, you'd know that I really like my motivational quotes. At any given time you can see quotes taped up all over my house - in the bedroom, bathroom, next to my computer, the kitchen, next to the treadmill...anywhere that I spend any significant amount of time.




I use those quotes because I live an extremely chaotic life filled with running to and fro from task to task until I collapse into bed in an exhausted heap in the wee hours of the night...or morning. These quotes are used to make me stop, pause for a moment, and reflect on what I am actually trying to achieve in the midst of this chaos. Sometimes it is weight loss. Sometimes it is increased spirituality. Sometimes it is just to create a certain sense of inner peace. Occasionally, when someone I care about is having difficulty, or needing a bit of motivation, I will pass one of my favorite quotes or pictures onto them in hopes that it helps them in some way to get through the trial or the goal they have in their lives.



One of my favorites for those going through difficult times in their lives is a quote that says, "This too shall pass....like a kidney stone". It's my way of giving support, while inserting a bit of sadistic humor to the situation. So, as I began going through my list of motivational quotes and pictures in search of a 'motto' to help me get through my most difficult moments trying to come to grips with incorporating Downs Syndrome into our home, I rested upon my "This too shall pass" quote and realized that this label, as nice as it is, doesn't exactly fit for me any more.

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Yes, certain stages will pass, but the Downs Syndrome itself will never go away. Short of marriage, and the mere birth of a child, NOTHING in my life has been so permanent as the diagnosis of Downs Syndrome for our child. It's not going to go away. We can't cure it. We can't ignore it. Baby Jacob won't grow out of it.



I thought about that for quite some time. And I came to the conclusion that even with all of the new information I collect about Downs Syndrome each and every day - the risks, the problems, the horror stories, and the not-so-horror stories. I'm OK with that. I'm OK with this change in my life - as permanent as it may be. Whatever God and life decides to throw in our family's direction...BRING IT!!!!!!! Because nothing is going to detract from this beautiful new spirit we are about to bring into our family and ultimately the world. Baby Jacob will truly make the world a better place.



By merely being Jacob, he has already made me change my focus from candy bouquets to where it should have been all along - my children, my husband and my family. That one change, in and of itself, will make our family stronger, happier, and more at peace with those around us.



So, this WON'T pass. So what? I have a new picture and motivational quote on my wall next to my computer for all to see. It's a picture of a lighthouse in the water in the middle of a huge storm. Waves are crashing 4 stories up the lighthouse and crashing all around the building. And, if you look really really hard, you can see a lone man in the doorway of the lighthouse, near the railing calmly standing there watching the raging waters crashing all around him. Underneath that picture there is a quote that says,

 "Sometimes God calms the storm...Sometimes God Calms the man and lets the storm rage!"