Fly Abby, Fly!

When Abby was a little girl she used to talk about how when she grew up she wanted to be able to fly. I try not to be the kind of Mom that shoots down these pie in the sky ideas because who ever knows what is truly capable. So we constantly have talked about ways that Abby could fly someday. Maybe she would be a trapeze artist? Maybe she would become an engineer and invent functional wings? Maybe she will be a pilot and fly all over the world?

Then something wonderful happened. She learned to fly all on her own. I have talked in this space about Abby's love of long jump. Last year she almost qualified for the Junior Olympics at just 8 years old jumping around 7 feet. Now... well now she is jumping almost 10 feet. She stands just 4 feet tall and she can get that tiny little body to jump more than twice her own height. If that isn't flying I don't know what is. 

As I watch her zoom that tiny frame down 50 meters of runway she truly looks like she might just take off into the sky. The look on her face has gone from the smile of last year to a grit of determination and might. She rocks into her start and moves with ease into her sprint. Normally she might stumble when running or playing, but not now. She does not misstep. She runs faster and faster until the white line is under her feet and she doesn't just jump. In one motion she both springs into flight, while pulling her knees as tight to her body as she can. With arms outstretched she flies. She lands gracefully into the sand, sometimes tumbling into it. 

She is tiny and slight but still, she has found a way to fly.

Update

When I was reading over an e-mail I was composing to update how Abby has been doing to our friends at the University of Washington I had to take a minute, sit back, and think about how far this child has come. This what I had written:

I apologize for the delay in my response. Abby is going amazingly well. Her health has been excellent over the past year. She still has asthma, very serious food allergies and is small in stature but this has been her healthiest year yet! She is academically well above average. She is finished the 2nd grade school year reading above the 5th grade level and on par with 4th grade math. She still participates in OT and PT but will scale back her OT in the coming school year. Her balance steadily improves over time but she periodically experiences balance “setbacks”. We haven’t established whether it’s inner ear fluid, growth or just her RES that causes it. She is participating in track (yes, TRACK!) and doing so much better than we even expected. We thought she would be the slowest on her team and that is not true. She falls occasionally but can run very FAST! She just qualified for our local track and field championship in both a relay event and the long jump. She can long jump over 7 feet, despite her only 45” frame. She is attempting to qualify for the junior olympics in the long jump event. 

Is this the same kid I used to write about? Is this the same girl who we truly thought might never walk or climb or sit on her own? Can this really be the kid that required 5 day a week therapy to ensure she could learn to roll over? 

How can this be??? 

It is amazing. I will never, ever, ever forget how long and hard we all had to work to get her here. The therapy, surgery, doctors visits, exercises, appointments, hours of conversations and planning and on and on and on. It was SO DAMN HARD for all of us. But this, this makes it all worth it.