Friday afternoon Avery and Harper were in the living room waiting for Emerson and me to join to read a chapter of Trumpet of the Swan.\u00a0 Upon entering the room, Harper was crying\u2026a true scared cry.\u00a0 Apparently, Avery had taken her glasses off and Harper was scared of her eyes.\u00a0 I was honestly dumbfounded at first.\u00a0 Yes, Avery\u2019s eyes move, and they are unique, but Harper is nearly seven years old\u2026she has been living with Avery for nearly seven years and she just now noticed Avery\u2019s eyes?\u00a0 Say what?\u00a0 Yes, Avery has worn glasses since she was three and her glasses somewhat mask the real appearance of her eyes, but Harper and Avery have shared a bedroom off and on over the year, they have showered together\u2026. Avery doesn\u2019t wear her glasses to bed, Avery doesn\u2019t wear her glasses to in the shower!<\/p>\n
My first instinct was to protect Avery\u2019s feelings.\u00a0 Avery took it like a champ though and told me that sometimes her friends call her eyes crazy and are intrigued by them\u2026.she shows them her eyes, they laugh about things, and then that is it.\u00a0 That hurt my mama heart too but knowing that Avery has learned implemented skills necessary to respond to such questions and comments made my mama heart smile.\u00a0 To my delight Emerson stepped in when it was clear I was still in disbelief that Harper had never noticed whatever it was she was noticing about Avery\u2019s eyes that scared her. \u00a0Emerson stepped in and said, \u201cwell maybe Harper doesn\u2019t understand why Avery\u2019s eyes move\u2026let\u2019s explain it to her\u201d. At that very second, Avery ran upstairs to get her book on nystagmus and for 20 minutes read each page beautifully.\u00a0 She paused to explain how she relates to the characters and how she has used so many points in this book to explain things to her friends.\u00a0 At the end of the book, Avery stood eye to eye with Harper and said \u201cnow for the most important part.\u00a0 You need to see me without my glasses.\u201d\u00a0 She then took off her glasses and ensured that Harper took a good look.<\/p>\n
There are times when it hurts my heart that Avery\u2019s eyes are different but am so quickly reminded that different is unique and more importantly experiencing something differently opens up one\u2019s ability to see outside society\u2019s norm, to see beyond what we view to be normal.\u00a0\u00a0 It paves the ways for being openminded, inclusion, empathy, bravery, and kindness.<\/p>\n
My mama heart had all the feels Friday afternoon, but most of all pure love for my girls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Friday afternoon Avery and Harper were in the living room waiting for Emerson and me to join to read a chapter of Trumpet of the Swan.\u00a0 Upon entering the room, Harper was crying\u2026a true scared cry.\u00a0 Apparently, Avery had taken … Continue reading