I have two older sons who are both brilliant and charming and wonderfully handsome, and I see both of them in my daughter’s eyes and smile. Are they somehow “less normal” for having my girl as their sister?
Yesterday, we were watching a parade. It happened to be my daughter’s first. At 6 years old, this was the first parade she was able to enjoy, and we were all basking in afterglow of catching candy and making it almost entirely through the parade without a meltdown or a seizure. A friend of a friend of a friend came over to tell me how normal my daughter looked and how they never would’ve known about her disabilities just by looking at her (patting me on the back as though congratulations were in order). As if on cue, my darling girl hoisted her shirt high over her belly and declared, “I am a shining star” (showing off her star-shaped tubie pad encircling her feeding tube).
My amazing, unique and fantastically wonderful, star-bellied Sneetch.
