Being in DC last week gave me a good opportunity to start thinking about how to tell the story of our trip, particularly to those who have not followed our every move on here. (Thanks, loyal readers!) One thing that's been fun is reflecting on the kids' stories... they've all had their own paths and experiences. Here's MY perception of how it's gone for each of them:
(Note that when I showed to this to Alexa, she said that it's not right... she was way more upset about coming than Athena was before the trip. Athena says this looks pretty accurate to her. Mazie has not yet reviewed. I'm certainly missing other highs and lows... our safaris & Ahya's visit definitely positive bumps too, and there were lots of other challenges and setbacks along the way. So, this isn't "the truth," but it's not too far off.)
As a parent, watching Athena struggle socially for a lot of the past few months has been tough. I knew she'd grow from it somehow in the long term, but it was still hard to see her giving up and losing confidence in her ability to connect with others. She kind of just curled into a ball for a while. So it's been quite a joy to see her complete turnaround and blossoming starting in late April. Today was her middle school science fair, and Caleb, Grandpa, her sisters, and I got to go see her present with her team of FRIENDS (Tony, Nixon, and Yafet). She's been working hard on this project over the past few weeks, including having Tony over to the house to plan for it before I went to DC, and brought the poster board home last night to have Lexi help her decorate it. Watching her today being fully engaged and smiling and laughing with her teammates and confidently explaining their project on light reflection to the judges was just... triumphant.
2 comments:
Brilliant -- whoever / whatever wrote it! And so apropos to Athena's experience!
It was fun
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