(Luke and Amaya visiting Luke's friend at his farm in Little River)
Amaya's capability to walk had been on my mind for about a month. This is because about a month ago when I picked up Amaya from childcare the employees questioned me about the flexibility and strength of Amaya's legs. In their words, 'Have you ever noticed that Amaya is quite stiff and not as flexible as other children?' Obviously, the employees did not know anything about my arthritic situation and were merely seeking my thoughts. I have such faith in the employees - aside from my parents, Luke and my friend Jo, they would be next on my babysitting list - so I took on board what they said with serious consideration. However, as the conversation continued, I could feel my eyes prick with tears and I abruptly left the centre. Immense guilt and sadness began to seep into my skin labelled 'mother'.
The conversation took me back to the times when Luke and I had discussed quite seriously the idea of having children. We knew that there would be a chance of passing on my condition, or the female arthritic gene at the very minimum, and we contemplated the risk and effect this would have on the child, future siblings, and us. We concluded that if I could manage - for the most part - living with the condition, then I would be able to pass on this knowledge and strength to our child. Besides, the thought at the forefront of our minds was giving someone else the opportunity of life - and we were soon blessed with Amaya.
Once I made it home from the childcare centre I was quick to call my mother. My mother is a large part of Amaya's life and if anyone could genuinely comment on Amaya's legs, it would be her. I questioned my mother as to whether or not there was a difference between Amaya and I, considering it was at about this time of my life that my arthritis began to rear its ugly head. My mother reassured me that she could not see any similarities between Amaya and I.
And, just over the past week, Amaya has taken her first, albeit unsteady, steps. I will be watching her legs with great anticipation as they begin to move faster and with more confidence. For the moment, she marvels at her ability and intelligence, and of course, her totally new view on life.
(I tried to upload a movie of Amaya walking onto my blog, but with no success.)
3 comments:
at least all the worries have gone..
with the movie, i guess maybe you could try youtube. i.e create your own channel..
but I am not quite sure how you could inset he video in blooger, but i have tried that in my blog and it works..
hope you and the famil are all well.
love tina
Having watched Amaya first hand I make the following observation. She has so much energy and determination that she will take whatever challenges life gives her with real gusto. The way she crawls through the tanbark, an experience that renders my knees extremely sore. I don't think she has any troubles of the kind mentioned by Shan. Luke xo
oh shan, i'm so glad to hear that she's taking a few steps. you mustn't be so hard on yourself....though i'm sure you worry. i was having a hard time uploading video also...so we also have a youtube account and then after joey uploaded the video to youtube, you can embed it into your blog also. you have to follow the directions through youtube (they have an embed video into your blogsite option)...then paste it into your blog by using the HTML editing window. it worked pretty well. i think blogspot is having difficulty with video uploads.....hope it works for you.
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