Special Saturday - What is Your Child's Greatest Achievement?

As I sat here contemplating what my son's greatest achievement was one realization drowned out all my other thoughts. I had sat down to write a post about what Cameron went through to learn to walk and how that changed his life and ours. I'd also contemplated writing about how Cameron communicates despite his inability to speak.

I  thought about writing about his amazing achievements when it comes to his fine motor skills and how these skills are still improving, which we had not expected or I could have written about how Cameron touches people's lives.

However it has occurred to me that there is one achievement that I think outstrips all of these amazing achievements. One thing that makes everything else pale into insignificance.

Cameron's greatest achievement is being alive!

Despite the miracle of conception and birth I can not remember one time that I sat with my young baby in my arms and pondered his future thinking his greatest achievement in life would be staying alive but here we are almost sixteen years later and that truly is his greatest achievement. Without life nothing else matters.

Over the last fifteen and a half years Cameron has fought to stay alive so many times that I have lost count. I really don't care if he never learns to talk or use the toilet because at least he is here with us and we are sharing our journeys through life together. I can not imagine my life without him despite my shared journey being nothing like I imagined.

I don't know why I am the lucky one who got to carry him and now share his journey. I know that the practicalities of life mean that we need to strive to achieve all those other achievements that I was going to write about - an education is important, speech is important, life skills are important but I think we forget how precious life is and how fleeting it can be.

Cameron is strong and he fights hard to stay with us. He could have given up so easily so many times but he doesn't. Does he have a purpose which is unfulfilled? I don't know but I suspect so. I know he makes an impact on people as he crosses their path in life and I hope that he is destined to do so for a very long time to come because the thought of walking through life without him is unbearable.

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