by Jennifer Lendvai-Lintner
Most parents know that familiar pang as a child approaches a transition like attending preschool. It's bittersweet watching our children grow and letting them go little by little. But as a parent of a child with profound disabilities, my daughter reaching this significant milestone bubbled up a tangle of unexpected feelings. When even causal milestones aren't promised, reaching them is cause for elation... but grief, too?
This month, my essay On the Strange Grief of Unimagined Milestones was published on Her View From Home. It explores a mundane milestone through the lens of parenting a child with disabilities and provides an honest look at my complicated relationship with hope. If you haven't yet seen it posted on my socials, I've linked it here for you to read.
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Photo courtesy of Ed Cunicelli Photographer on behalf of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
[Image Description: Hilde and Jennifer are pictured face to face and photographed from the side. Jennifer, dressed in a blue chambray button-down and olive pants, sits in a blue chair and smiles at Hilde who is seated on top of a cream table. Hilde wears her plum glasses, BAHA, hearing aid, and is dressed in a bright yellow sweater and demin leggings. Behind hem a courtyard with tress, foliage and buildings is visible.]