The strongest people

The strongest people in life are not those who can life the most weight. They are not the people who look at the sadness in the world and never shed a tear. No the strongest people are some of the smallest, some of the most overlooked, the people you pass everyday and never think about. Yes, the strongest people are hidden in the wold and it's time the spotlight is on them.
I see strength in the eyes of the children and adults who struggle everyday to do the things most take for granted. I see power in the child who sits in a wheelchair on the sidelines cheering on the other kids, while deep down he wishes he was one of them. I see brawn in the mind of a person who has never laid eyes on a sunset, yet can live as freely as us with perfect sight. As I have began making my rounds in the world of disabilities I realize now the vast differences in people and the challenges they live with.
To the families who deal with the challenges along side their family member you too have more strength than you will ever know. You deal with the looks, the snide comments, and yes even laughter. You hold your head high knowing the rude people in the world will never know love like you do. If a person goes through life never seeing a storm, never feeling wind so strong they are nearly blown over, well r world is always perfect, sunny. Then one day the wind comes and everything they have ever known is destroyed. They cry, they scream at God for answers. Everything is just gone. Families who have been through the storm, they won't get blown over. Their lives stand perfectly tall and straight as they had before the storm They know that though the rain is falling now, soon the sun will shine again.
Us families of disabled children understand each other in a way no one else can. We can talk in medical jargon, know every hospital within 100 mile radius, and can carry a list of conditions and medicines in our head. We are nurses, doctors, support systems. We compare stories as pregnant woman do. We share what has worked for us, or what hasn't. We all belong to a large family that spans around the world.
I know for me when I am in a doctors office and I see another child with autism, or vision issues, or numerous other problems I can talk to this person as if I've known them my whole life. In most cases our children have seen many of the same doctors or had any of the same tests and for a moment I feel a whole lot less alone. I can see in the eyes of this other mother the pain that comes with years of searching, the mourning for what could have been, the wonder at what could have been differently. Above all those other emotions though, I see the strength of a person who would die for their child, would fight to the end for their child, and above all love a child and believe in a child that the world seems to want to cast off. I hear you, I'm with you, and forever I will stand beside you.