Strangely beautiful

As September approaches, I am not only at a loss for how fast Graeme's first year has gone; but also that we have now lived two years without Kenan. He has been on my mind more frequently recently, and I'm sure it's b/c Fall is around the corner. Last night, we had the most bizarre but beautiful experience I have had in a while. We were out around dinner time, so we decided to grab some pizza before coming home.

When we walked in, I noticed a family sitting in the back with a teenage girl and two men. Other than that, I didn't take much notice. After we had been sitting for a while; the girl walked past our table and starting asking Ceilidh questions. She was beautiful, and being very sweet to Ceilidh. We also immediately recognized that she had a developmental disability such as autism. After spending a few minutes talking with her while she stood by our table, she actually asked if she could sit down with us. ha Of course we didn't care, and told her to pull up a chair. Her dad walked over to make sure we were ok with everything, and then we enjoyed the end of our dinner with Amy sitting with us. She was fairly mid to high functioning and signed while she spoke. I was so proud of Ceilidh for treating Amy like she would any other friend of ours.

Her innocence and excitement over life was beautiful to experience. Her meeting became even more personal when she flipped out in excitement when she found out Andrew's name. She began telling us Andrew was her favorite name b/c the guy that plays Jesus in "The Jesus movie" is named Andrew. She then asked me when Graeme's birthday was, and I told her that it was actually next month. She got really excited again and told us her birthday was as well. Tears immediately welled up after I asked her what date. September 22nd. Of course her birthday would be September 22nd and her favorite name be Andrew (Andrew Kenan).

When Kenan was delivered; he had a red area at the base of his neck indicating the possibility of spinal/neurological issues. Infection is always a possibility with a stillbirth, as well as a slew of other things. I have always personally believed though, that if he had been born; he probably would have been disabled in some way. Do I know any of this as fact? No. But it was still strange, yet beautiful to have gotten a glimpse into what may have been our lives. Just spending 30 minutes with her I could see how incredibly rewarding, yet incredibly exhausting life would be. She talked to us like we had known her our whole lives. After awhile, Amy looked us both in the eye and asked us to promise her two things. "Promise to never split up, and never yell at your daughter." Preach it sister! wink

I left feeling grateful for the experience for myself as well as for our family as a whole. Thank you Jesus for clothing yourself in the physical and eating dinner with us.