Sweet joy in the middle of goodness was an unexpectedly delightful part of our trip to an Arizona fruit orchard in January. I walked around in shirtsleeves and sandals, admiring trees laden with yellow and orange fruit. I breathed in the tang of fresh citrus. I sampled variety after variety of grapefruit, oranges, lemons, and limes with greedy joy.
The orchard was heady fare for a midwesterner eager to escape an Iowa winter for a week. When it was time to leave the orchard, I didn’t want to go. And I didn’t want to leave Arizona’s warmth and sunshine when our vacation ended.
Even so, part of me was ready to return home and resume interviews with parents raising kids with special needs and disabilities for a book proposal about stress and compassion fatigue in caregiver.
I was ready to return to the sweet joy of hearing their stories.
The sweet joy of witnessing their pride in their children.
The sweet joy of crying with them in their grief.
The sweet joy of learning from their wisdom.
The sweet joy of being in the middle of goodness incomprehensible to those not part of our world.
Talking to these families, on the phone or in video chats, has been as sharp and delicious as an orange eaten in a citrus grove. Our conversations take me back to my days as a caregiver, and we connect as only parents of kids with disabilities and special needs can. As they describe their lives, common threads, common needs, and common desires emerge. Here are 5 desires many parents have expressed.
Caregiving parents want assurance that stress and compassion fatigue is real. They want assurance that what they are dealing with is not all in their heads. They want someone to acknowledge the stress that is taking a toll on their physical, mental, and spiritual health. They want someone to tell them that while what they are dealing with is not normal for the general population, it is normal within the caregiving tribe.
Source: Special Needs Parenting- Key Ministry
