CDKL5 Family

Yesterday was Rare disease day and one of Sonzee's CDKL5 sibling's mother created this amazing slide show of some of our kiddos.  I saw it posted in the afternoon on our parent page, but did not watch it.  I saw I was tagged in something on my wall in the evening, and when I saw it was the video I decided to wait until later on to sit down and watch it.  I knew from the minute I hit play that it was going to be something that would cause tears to well up in my eyes.  To begin with, I have zero ability to control any of my emotions at night, I am beyond exhausted to the point where my eyes actually hurt and can hardly remain open, and it is just what happens to me when it comes to slide shows.  At 10:23pm I decided to press play and let me tell you, my intuition about the tears was spot on, and as I listened to the lyrics paired with all of the pictures, I had such chills run through my body.

She could not have picked a better song to accompany the faces of our beautiful children and to solidify how we have become a family simply because our children brought each and every one of us together.  We have others who "get us", who "understand" on a level that honestly no one else possibly can, and who are there for us on days we need to randomly vent about insurance, celebrate the inchstones, or cry with during the more devastating and challenging times. 

The day Sonzee received her diagnosis I went to the Internet and reached out to anyone that popped up in the search results of "CDKL5".  We were given a 5 character string that answered the easy questions, the why she wasn't developing typically or why she was seizing.  But the real questions were answered and are still being answered by the parents of the faces in the video.  The same day we were given a piece of a paper that said "CDKL5" was also the day we were given an entire extended family.  There is a connection between us all that has no adequate words to give it justice and no matter where any of our children's stories take us, I hope every parent with a child diagnosed with CDKL5 knows to "Just stay strong, cause you know I'm here for you."