Okay, anyone who knows me, knows I am NOT given to tears. So when I'm sitting in Ikea, enjoying my free coffee and the companion of a good friend, and suddenly find myself crying...well, it gives me pause.
Don't get me wrong, I apparently needed a good cry. But now, hours later, I am still feeling it. Both catharsis and angst.
We were talking about something very important in her life...an area that I have exquisite experience in. I'm even now struggling to name it for you the reader. It is so personal and painful and exhausting and tender. It's sensory processing disorder (SPD).
And as I shared my understanding of what her friend is going through, the 16 years of parenting someone I love so much who suffers daily from SPD, well, I fell apart.
I have been strong and determined; an advocate and defender; a coach and cheerleader. I am also a mother. And it is a journey I never imagined. Apparently a crack appeared and the tears came running through. So glad I was with a friend who got it. It was a tender gift to my soul.
Tears falling here, Laur. You are the best. Love you.
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who really would love to sit in IKEA and talk to you...even if I had to pay for the coffee
What a beautiful and heartfelt post, my friend. I hurt even thinking of you crying(and in Ikea!) over something that touched you so deeply. I myself, experienced a rather cathartic cry in a King Soopers after overhearing a woman getting snippy and impatient with her with elderly mother, who was struggling to get through her shopping. What I would give to have even one hour to grocery shop with my Mom... anyway, sometimes a good cry can be awesome medicine.
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