by Tracie Smith
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Tracie Smith, one of the paralegals at Skyer Law. When you call the office and hear an Australian accent greet you, that’s me.
I’m also the mom of two beautiful kids. My oldest daughter will be 9 next week, and I’m thankful for her learned patience and fierce advocacy (even at this age) for her autistic brother who is 6. My son is (as I like to say) “currently” non-verbal, and he’s also one of the sweetest little fellas you’ll ever meet.
Mother’s Day is filled with a lot of emotions for us special needs moms, grandmas, guardians, and other mother figures in our children’s lives. As a mom, there will always be doubts—am I getting my child enough speech, OT, PT, ABA, Floortime, music therapy, etc.? We can’t do everything. Trust that what you’re doing is enough, because you are mom and moms know best!
There are a lot of Mother’s Day articles written for other kinds of mothers, and plenty of well-wishers will tell us to celebrate this day with “me time,” to find a great book, take a yoga class, be pampered, and relax, and, let’s face it, we, more than anyone deserve it! I hope that some of you manage to get a real break today. But for the moms like me who are just hoping the day goes smoothly and without any drama, my wish is you get that day.
I know there are many of you who won’t get a “Happy Mother’s Day” spoken out loud by some or all of your children this weekend. But please trust and know that your child loves you and you are doing awesome. I know you are doing awesome because I talk to so many of you every single day, and I hear in your voices and in your words how much you do for your children. If your child cannot “currently” talk like mine, I want to say on your child’s behalf: Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. Thank you for all you do. You are my everything.