SLP Mommy of Apraxia

Category: Apraxia

Homework and special needs? Insert silent cursing in my head.

Homework. I’m gonna be honest. When I was a young, enthusiastic SLP, I assigned speech homework all the time. Most of the time, it didn’t come back. I could never understand what the deal was. It’s seriously like 5 minutes of their time. Who doesn’t have 5 minutes?

Man, sometimes I want to go back and smack some sense into that young SLP!

Let’s talk homework. I know most parents dread it. That wasn’t a typo. I just wrote parents. I know this, because I hear it all the time. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not going to sit here unfortunately, and tell you homework is not important and our kids shouldn’t have it…I don’t believe that either. BUT……

Now, I want to talk about homework and kids with special challenges. Seriously people, if parents of kids without challenges want to pull their hair out during homework, let me just give you a tiny peak into my life.

I have a kid who actually wants to do homework, like I was. Thank God. Everything I am about to tell you would only be THAT much worse if she didn’t, and from what I hear, most kids DON’T want to do it. It starts with reading, which we are supposed to do for 15 minutes every night. That’s usually doable. I say usually, because in the time I pick her up from school at 3:30, we usually have some sort of extra therapy (Speech or OT) or extra curricular we have her in hoping to catch her up, and they also assign hw. I actually have her in less than many parents I know because their kids are still requiring more than 1x a week therapy, just as an FYI to any professionals reading my blog gaining some perspective. Anyway…I like reading because at least it’s a time limit and not an amount. Actually, that would be nice if instead of an amount, we were given a time. Let me give you an example with a recent math worksheet.

This was a packet. A PACKET people. There was a pie graph with nickels and pennies and we were to spin a paperclip with a pencil and then document how many times the paperclip landed on either coin and we were to do ten trials on spinner A and ten trials on spinner B. Then on the back we were to compare. It was a great activity. I looked at it and realistically thought we could complete it in a week. It was due the next day.

Sigh

Okay, to start, spinning a paperclip with a pencil tip is hard for even ME and I’m an adult without motor planning issues. You can only begin to imagine how much time was actually spent on just trying to keep the pencil tip in the paperclip and spinning a spin that actually stayed on the graphic. Basically, the task turned into learning how to spin a paperclip with a pencil…I’m serious. Now that I have some foresight, I think maybe it would have been best if I were to spin and then she were to write down the results, because writing down the results also doesn’t just teach her math, it’s another OT (occupational therapy) lesson. She would mark in the wrong column and then have to erase, which sounds fast…but with motor planning, NOTHING is fast. I was so frustrated after 5 trials of just the first spinner (and mind you we had 15 more to go) that I stopped there…..because after that we had to shade in a bar graph. Ahh yes…”shading” in with a kid who has motor planning. Do you know the serenity prayer? I was repeating it in my head over and over and over again. We are now at least 30 minutes into math hw and this is after the 15 minutes we did of reading. Nevermind I have my own work to do from my job that I still have to get done before the next day. I have to do her hw with her. Sigh. Okay….graph is done. Awesome…turn the page…..and….math calculations.

Silent cursing in my head. Big deep breath. Stay calm.

“Okay honey, so let’s count how many more times we landed on the nickles and write that number.” Oh yeah…writing…that’s a motor plan too. She forgets how to write letters and instead of “calculating” the task in now a handwriting and number formation lesson. FML The ONE silver lining is Ashlynn is not frustrated at all. Thank goodness. I don’t know how she has this amazing tenacity, but she does, and I am so thankful, because this night looks much more difficult in many houses with kids who do get frustrated and want to give up and fight them.

We finished all the math in about 50 minutes only completing 1/3 of what was required. Is this what a first grader is supposed to be doing? Because I also put her to bed early because she’s six, so between 3:30 and 7:30 we have four hours to drive to a therapy, attend a 45 minute therapy, fix dinner, eat dinner, and then do homework and then go to bed. I get why parents don’t do it. I do it because I’m a type A personality and if something is required I can’t let it go.

The school recognizes that kids should not have hw all the time, so they only assign hw M-Th. I guess they think this is helpful. It’s not. I asked last year AND this year for them to send the hw over the weekend…when we have lots of time…and we will complete ALL of it. It hasn’t happened yet, but seriously, if the goal is the amount, than I need more time, which includes the weekend. My kid has special needs. Other kids aren’t challenged by the motoric acts and attention issues that we have. There is no other option than more time for my kid. It’s the way it is. Either that, or we set a time limit, like reading. Work on reading for this amount of time. Okay, we can do that.

I go back to current IEP meetings I am in now with a MUCH different perspective than my young, pre-kid, SLP self. Speech homework?? Speech homework?? Ahahahahahaha. Yeah, no wonder parents wanted to laugh. I just had no idea. I think back to kids I had with ADHD. Ashlynn has it minus the hyperactivity, and if anyone or anything enters the hw room she looks up and is gone. It takes time to regain her attention, find the problem she was working on, and then continue our work. When this happens at least 10 times during the hw assignment, we are talking a sizable chunk of time!

You know what really sucks about homework though? It’s that OUR kids, MY KID, need it the most, and they take the LONGEST to do the amount the average kid is given; and because they need more repetition, they get MORE than the average kid.

Think about that! Isn’t that jacked up??

So, for a kid like Ashlynn, an average hw load already takes her at least double what it takes a typical peer, and because she needs more help, she also GETS double the work.

My apraxia sister with a 2nd grader in Oklahoma wrote it best the other night in a text to me saying simply,

“Global Apraxia SUCKS!!!”

Yep. That sums it up.

October 2, 2016
An open letter to siblings. Always be there for each other.

Jace, not only have you had an EXCELLENT and continued start to the school year, I am so proud of you for your behavior at this year’s apraxia walk. I know it’s not easy to see Ashlynn get a medal for apraxia, and you don’t understand why. Not yet anyway. Either way though, you stick by her side, held the sign during the walk, and supported her the best way you could.

You asked me why you didn’t have apraxia, as though it was something to want to have. Though this makes me happy for Ashlynn’s sake, it also makes me sad. One day, when you understand what apraxia is, you will also understand it is not something to envy, and because of it, this may be the only award she earns during her school career.

I see you in karate. We put you in this so you had something to be proud of that was just your own! It worked. Your motor skills are developing at lightening pace speed. As your mom, it’s remarkable to witness. Both your grandfathers on each side were very athletic. They had great “natural ability” as my dad describes it. You have that too. I see it. I want you to remember Ashlynn cheers you on at your karate classes. She is your loudest supporter when you earn a new belt, and I want Ashlynn to remember how you were there for her too at her apraxia walk; cheering her on and holding her sign when she got tired.

My dad, your grandfather, is a BIG believer in family. He’s like this because his youngest brother, my godfather, died at 27. I don’t think he’s ever forgiven himself for it, even though it was not his fault. He always told me though, had his brother called family…aka him…aka your grandpa….he wouldn’t have been dead. He wanted to make sure the same for me and my siblings, and I want to make sure the same is true for you and Ashlynn. Regardless of your fights or squabbles, at the end of the day, family MUST always be there for each other. That is the blessing of a family. That is the gift of a family. Family is love, and as Corinthians reminds us:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always hopes, ALWAYS perseveres.

Whatever the challenge, a parent’s greatest wish is that her children, whom she loves equally, will be there for each other as well. In my absence or presence, I always want you two to “have each other’s back.” The world can be cruel. It can be lonely….but one thing you should always be able to count on is your family.

This year, even cousins came. 1st cousins and 4th cousins!! My heart literally swelled. To have that kind of support is a blessing, but it’s also taught. I was taught to be there for family, and I wish to instill the same value in you.

4th Cousins!!

First cousin Kayla!

3rd and 4th cousins!

I’m proud to be part of this family. I’m proud of both of you! Don’t ever take for granted or squander the blessing of your family. You will both drive each other crazy at times and you will hurt each other at times, but always remember, love is not easily angered and it keeps no record of wrongs. Please always love each other like you do now. That is my greatest wish.

I love you both so much.

Love,

Mommy

Love,

Mommy

September 27, 2016
What does one say when giving a speech at an apraxia walk?

Being a walk coordinator, you have one job that is a must. You must give the speech and hand out the medals. I mean, I guess you don’t have to, but typically this responsibility falls on you. I like to write, and I also took speech and debate all through school, so these two things don’t make me nervous. Someone asked me if I cry when giving the speech, and I confidently told her no. This year though, I did get emotional toward the end.

Someone asked me if I get nervous, and I do…but not because speaking to a crowd or writing a speech makes me nervous. No. What makes me nervous is the pressure I feel for it to be good. I want it to be powerful. I want it to be meaningful. Worrying that it won’t be is what makes me nervous.

I hope it was meaningful to the walkers.

Hi Denver walkers!

I am so honored to be standing in front of over 400 people who love and know someone with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Every year this walk has grown in size, and this year is no exception. We are here honoring 43 children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

43 Children who work hard every day to the one thing many take for granted….

SPEAK.

Denver continues to be a VERY strong Apraxia Community. Out of 90 Walks taking place nationwide, Denver currently ranks 5^th in terms of number of participants. I remember when my daughter Ashlynn was dx, the ONE thing I wanted more than anything, was to find others like me and her, and then to find others who had OVERCOME it.

Honestly, that is my hope for this walk as it continues to grow over time. A lot of kids get better and then stop coming, but I truly hope when your child is doing better, they continue to come and stand up here with a microphone speaking words of hope to the generation after. I have seen walks now where young people have come back to give speeches and sing songs. That is my continued hope for this walk, and I guarantee you, my daughter Ashlynn and I will be part of this community for years to come.

I was talking to a 4^th grade student with apraxia last week, and he was asking me how rare apraxia was. I told him every 1 and 1000 child will have it. To put that in perspective, that would be 1 child in every two elementary schools in our district. He remarked matter of factly,

“and that child is me.”

Yes I said. That one child was him. 🙁

He told me he couldn’t wait for the walk so he could meet other children like him. Sweetie, I hope here you have found them and feel in good company.

To all you others, I hope YOUR child is in good company. I hope YOU are in good company. When I attended the CASANA conference this past July in Chicago, Sharon Gretz, the executive director told us:

“If you are feeling nervous, or if you are unsure, take a deep breath, for you are with your people.”

I wish to tell you all of that now. Children with apraxia, you are with your people.

Parents of children with apraxia, you are with your people.

I may be biased, but I can honestly tell you Children with Apraxia of Speech are among my favorite people on this planet. Though all individual and unique, I don’t have to meet your child to know:

They are a fighter

They are resilient

They have a heightened emotional intelligence

They inspire you

They inspire me

Most of you know, this walk benefits CASANA (The Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America). It sounds like a HUGE non-profit, but actually it is staffed as small as it can be and relies on volunteers around the country…like me and all the people who helped me this year, to run the walks. They do this to maximize the money they can return to the community, our community..to my child..to your child. I do all of this as a volunteer because I believe in CASANA and I have personally seen time and time again as a mother and as an SLP how our efforts today directly benefit the children I see before me.

I truly feel honored to look out at you now and see many faces of apraxia whom I know. Because of CASANA, many of these faces have been fortunate to receive iPads, speech therapy through Small Steps, and quality therapy thanks to CASANA. I’m so happy our community is large and strong, but I do wish our fund raising efforts would match it. For a walk of our size, it is very common to raise 30K dollars, but it takes all of us going out of our comfort zone and asking people to donate. I just checked and we are at 20K. My goal was 30K, and if we reach it, not only do we help so many children in our direct community, but we will also get a FREE parent seminar from Sharon Gretz, the executive director of CASANA. I just want to tell you all we have until Thanksgiving to keep raising money for our walk! It doesn’t end here!

That said,

Before the ceremony gets underway, I just want to say in closing,

If you are new to this journey, take heart. There is hope.

If you are not new to this journey, I hope you reach out to someone who is.

If you are a professional supporting a family, you should know your presence here means more than could ever be conveyed in words.

If you are a family member or friend supporting a child, you should know your support and understanding is so needed and also so appreciated, as many, many, many people don’t understand how painful this can be.

Finally and most importantly, if you are a child with apraxia, stand up tall!! This is your day!!

We see you

We love you

We recognize all the hard work you put in every day, and we want to honor you!!!!

So let’s get started!

September 25, 2016
Why would anyone CHOOSE to coordinate a walk.

I am the current walk coordinator for the Denver Walk for Apraxia of Speech, benefiting the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America.

Before I was walk coordinator, I was merely a first year participant who had signed my family up to walk for my daughter Ashlynn. I remember signing up at the very last minute right before the T-shirt deadline. I did this, despite knowing about it for months before; because I wanted to make sure nothing else more important came up. It didn’t, so in 2014, we attended the Denver Walk for Apraxia. I had no idea what to expect. I just figured it would be some boring walk around the lake, but it would benefit CASANA, and that would be a good thing for awareness.

I do remember receiving emphatic emails from the current coordinator about raising money, everyone donating even just five more dollars etc etc, for us to meet our goal. She had a goal of 30k and I’m pretty sure they met it that year. I never asked for donations or solicited anyone outside our immediate circle despite this. I honestly figured, what could my meager attempts do? Leave it to the big wigs and people with connections to bring in the money.

The walk was AMAZING. I had NO idea Ashlynn would receive a medal in a medal ceremony, or that there would be activities beforehand that would be fun. I WAS on the email lists telling me this stuff, but for some reason, I must have missed them.

After that walk though, I couldn’t imagine Ashlynn not having another. The previous walk coordinators were stepping down after 7 years or so, and they were asking for new volunteers. I did actually read these emails, but I just assumed someone else would take the place. I seriously had no buy in, and no culpability.

Come February or so of 2015, I was talking to Sharon Gretz, the executive director of CASANA, and through the course of the conversation I realized there wasn’t going to be a Denver walk that year.

What???? I inquired.

Well, the previous coordinators stepped down, and there is no one to run it, was the answer. If someone doesn’t step up soon, there can’t be a walk this year since planning needs to start months in advance.

Shit. In that moment I KNEW I had to do it. The experience had been SO amazing for Ashlynn and our family that I couldn’t imagine her not having that again.

I’m already stretched super thin. I have this desire to be as involved a mom as possible while being an SLP. I’m working at my children’s school during the day, and then working nights and weekends so my children can be with their father when I am not there. How on EARTH would I plan a walk? Screw it. Minor details that don’t matter because apparently if I don’t, the walk won’t happen this year.

I pitched it to my husband. The answer was pretty much…

NO

Without going into detail, his reasons were valid. He knows me and he knows I would devote all this time and energy I already don’t have into this. Long story short and many compromises later…I ended up being the Denver Walk Coordinator last year. I originally began not feeling any particular commitment to it, other than making sure Ashlynn was honored as she was the year before. I hate to admit my husband was right, but the Type A in me started whispering to me that I can’t have my name attached to an event and not have it be the best I could do.

To make a walk happen is fairly easy. Set the date, secure the place, tell your immediate people about it, sort the walk day materials for the small gathering, and you’re set.

To make a LARGE walk happen, and a walk I felt I could be proud of, takes WAAAAYYYYY more work. I decided I wanted food at my walk, I wanted entertainment and family fun. I wanted the award ceremony to be powerful so I wanted music. I wanted the day remembered picture perfectly, so I wanted a photographer. I wanted the kids to have fun, like at a carnival, so I wanted games, and clowns, and characters. I didn’t want people to be bored, so I wanted activities.

I didn’t want people to be hungry or thirsty, so I wanted food and beverages. Oh, and I wanted to make more money for CASANA so I wanted an awesome raffle table that would entice people to buy more raffle tickets with all proceeds going back to CASANA.

Oh, and in the middle of all of it, I became 100% committed to CASANA. They keep their staff small and centralized to Pittsburgh, and rely on the help of walk volunteers around the country to raise their money. The reason for this, is to maximize the amount of money raised going directly BACK into the community to help our kids via research, iPads, grants for speech therapy etc.

I realized I wanted to help maximize their goal. CASANA was life changing for my family. I needed to raise enough money so they are life changing for as many families as possible in my position. It literally becomes an obsession and a vocation. I went from only caring about honoring Ashlynn, to making sure I raise enough money to help every kid and family possible affected by CAS in North America. I’m not exaggerating people.

THIS is the job of a walk coordinator. It is soooo much more than just organizing a walk that gives everyone warm and fuzzy feelings. You become so personally invested. You can’t understand why people register late. You can’t understand why people don’t make it their priority. You can’t understand why people are only peripherally involved. You can’t understand why people don’t understand they need to register. You can’t understand why people are okay with buying shirts from other people to attend your event. You become SO obsessed with not only helping your own child, but realizing how much your own child benefited, that you now want to help EVERY SINGLE child who has struggled like your own.

Oh, and might I add, it’s easy to do when you know the staff at CASANA. As a walk coordinator, you become personally involved with them, and by personally becoming involved with them, you realize even MORE, if you didn’t before…….how this non-profit you are out raising money for, is truly staffed with selfless people. You hear these horror stories on the news all the time of executive directors taking thousands of dollars in profit from the “non-profit.” Not true at CASANA. You learn what these people make and I honestly think they SHOULD be making more for all the hours they put into this non-profit. When you, in your heart, believe, like I do, that the staff at CASANA (all of them) should be making more than they earn because they truly EARN every single penny…..you are ALL IN. Every single dollar counts.

I wish I knew that my first walk. I thought I was a peon. The money I could bring in meaningless. People, as walk coordinator, I have literally organized fundraisers that only made $50. When I think of the amount of time and effort it took to set it up and to try and get people to go, and in my mind, we are still $50 closer to our goal, I ASSURE you, any and ALL efforts you make to get donations or to fund raise are appreciated.

This year, Denver is currently ranked 5th in terms of number of participants out of 90 walks…but barely making the top 20 in money earned. I’m pissed about that. We have so many teams, why isn’t the money matching that? Can you believe this keeps me up at night? I literally make NO money doing this. That’s how much I believe in CASANA. Can you believe I’m not the only walk coordinator who feels this way? I know the other walk coordinators via a facebook group. All day long people post things they are doing to help CASANA, or what places they are calling and emailing trying to get donations to make the walk the best it can be. Mind you, these are ALL volunteers working for FREE because that is how much they appreciate and believe in CASANA. We are all people willing to work for free, lose sleep, and possibly go on anxiety medication (lol) because we want every cent possible to go back to CASANA.

Last year I posted why people walk. This year I wanted you to know why I am a walk coordinator. It’s not for money or recognition, let me assure you. It’s because I believe in the organization I am representing. It’s because I love what they stand for, and I love what our children will take away from the walk that day.

It’s because EVERY CHILD DESERVES A VOICE. I would appreciate any donations to the walk. 85% of every dollar goes directly back to helping kids when you support the non-profit CASANA. They are amazing and a worthy cause. I can’t say enough. If you are so moved, the link is included below.

http://casana.apraxia-kids.org/site/TR?fr_id=1932&pg=entry

September 16, 2016
My head gets messed up sometimes

This is what Ashlynn has said to me twice today. It’s rather timely since I just wrote about a post about letting our kids know they have apraxia so they have a name for the problems they experience.

Ashlynn (I thought) has known she has apraxia, but I realized I said it a lot when we were still just trying to get her words out and her sounds right, but maybe I hadn’t said it lately.

This morning she called me Grandma, stopped, and then hit her head and said “ugh. WHY DO I DO THAT??? You’re not Grandma…you’re um………….” I waited patiently. “Mommy. You’re mommy. Ugh. My head gets messed up sometimes,” and she hit her forehead.

I quickly told her “Ashlynn, your head is not messed up. You have apraxia, and that is what makes it hard to get the words out sometimes and also why you may say the wrong word.” My husband quickly followed up with his own words of encouragement.

Two hours later I was working on my computer, and she came over and started talking to me. I was asking her what she wants for her birthday. She told me her standard: cards, papers, pens. She’s always fighting over Jace’s magna tiles, so I asked if she wanted magna tiles. She immediately said yes! Then she said, “I couldn’t think of that word: magna tiles. I said Legos but that’s not right. Ugh. My head gets so messed up sometimes.” I started to say something, and she interrupted and said, “That’s because I have apraxia?” I quickly agreed and told her that’s why she goes to speech therapy. (Except she hasn’t been to private speech lately because of some personal family extenuating circumstances). So, literally two minutes later I look up and see this:

It’s not the best picture, but she has a box of decodable books we keep in the living room open and she is trying to read them. She noticed me looking at her and she asked, “When am I going back to speech therapy mommy?”

Sigh

Apraxia sucks. Ashlynn is amazing and her head is anything but “messed up.” Why does she have to work so damn hard. Why does she have to know she has to work so damn hard. Am I doing enough? Am I saying the right things? I swear being a parent is half doing what you think is right, and half second guessing what you said and did.

It’s such an invisible disability at this point. No one would look at her and think apraxia. No one would look at her and think her “head’s messed up.” Ugh. That kills me. Look at her. She’s looking out our window here taking it all in. She is seeing and looking at WAY more than she says. Maybe one day I will know everything in her head. Maybe.

Sometimes, I feel like I’ve been jipped. Other parents get to hear the thoughts behind this picture. I try to read her eyes and her facial expressions. Oh she talks. That she does and she does it well now. I still don’t know everything though, and she knows it now too…..and I don’t know whether or not to be sad or happy she is empowered to know why talking and getting the words out is hard for her.

Sometimes I wonder if that’s unique to parenting a child with a communication disorder, or a more universal experience as a mother. I think of the ABBA song I love so much:

Do I really see what’s in her mind
Each time I think I’m close to knowing,
she keeps on growing,
slipping through my fingers all the time.

September 12, 2016
Lessons in emotional intelligence..courtesy of a 6 year old with apraxia

Ashlynn’s classroom has a color clip system for behavior. Basically, every child starts the day on pink, which is a neutral color, and during the course of the day, students’ behavior earn them a “clip up” or “clip down” depending on their actions. At the end of the day, they get a star to take home that is the color of where their clip was for that day.

Ashlynn has never had below the neutral pink color. On occasion, she has been coming home with greens and even some purple stars! Yesterday, she had a green star and I asked her why she clipped up today. She answered first that she didn’t know (easy, known, motor plan), but when I pressed more she said for sitting in her seat.

When we were leaving, I was able to ask the teacher, who told us it was because Ashlynn finished a writing assignment and stayed focused even as many others around her were not. I mean, maybe that’s what she meant by “sitting in her seat.” Who knows. Stupid apraxia. I never feel like I get the entire story, and how frustrating for Ashlynn that she knows but can’t convey everything she knows.

I made a joke to the teacher that I told Ashlynn if she clipped up she should know why so it can happen again! I started thinking though, maybe that’s not right. Mother Teresa was canonized this week and there were a lot of memes floating around social media. This one caught my eye and reminded me of Ashlynn.

My God I pray she keeps this mentality. She really does know who she is. She could care less about clipping up. I mean let’s be honest. If you’ve read my blog, you know that girl works harder than anyone else and is always trying to learn to write, to talk, to read, to do jumping jacks….like literally her play is stuff she practices in her various therapies. Basically, Ashlynn earns a clip up everyday. Most people have to learn humility, ESPECIALLY egocentric kids. As I write that, I don’t mean to imply there are *some* egocentric kids. Kids in general ARE egocentric. It’s their nature.

Not Ashlynn though. Nope. Ashlynn was born with humility. Seriously. I can’t tell you how many times she gets told she’s pretty on a daily basis and she always accepts the compliment with a smile and grace. I’ve never heard her once walk around bragging about anything, but conversely, she is not devastated by criticism either. If you don’t believe me, read this incident at the park where one of our worst dreams comes true and she is asked why she “talks like a baby” when she was just learning to talk and use her words and was putting herself out there. She handled it way better than me and I’m the adult.

Anyway, when I first started this blog, one of my most liked posts was called lessons from a tricycle. Really, this blog could be called Lessons from Ashlynn. I always talk about emotional intelligence, and I really wish it was talked about or even acknowledged at IEP meetings because it’s a real thing and people with it make this world a better place. Seriously. I would posit that most people need lessons in emotional intelligence, even adults….including me.

If you follow my fb page, you know that I won this award, a media award from ASHA, which is the governing body over ALL speech pathologists and audiologists nationwide. ASHA is basically our American Academy of Pediatrics. I unabashedly felt the need to publish it on my fb page. I would love to go to the national conference in November, but I probably can’t; but really, if I think about it, it’s just vanity, or lack of humility, that makes me want to be there so bad…..and that’s when I take a lesson from Ashlynn.

She just does her thing whether people notice or not, and I seriously feel like the biggest A-hole for thinking I need to go to some conference to be recognized. Oh Ashlynn. Here we are. You teach me lessons again and again and you are only six. Humility is probably on my top five virtues I admire in people. Honesty and integrity being up there too, humility is admirable to me and Ashlynn has it naturally. Keep it up my young chickadee. I’m so proud of you. I love you, I admire you, and I know you are destined for great things.

September 10, 2016