The Gift

It's been almost exactly one year (plus a couple of weeks) since I started this blog.  I did it half-jokingly and honestly didn't think I'd do much with it.  And I didn't for about six months.  Then one hard day in a year of hard days, I sat down and starting writing and it just came out of me.  It's been an amazing, cathartic, hard, beautiful thing for me. 

I've always had a secret dream of being a writer.  I've always had my nose in a book and a have a fairly vivid imagination.  In fact, sometimes I think that if my childhood had been just a little different, if I'd had more opportunities to take dance classes and learn an instrument and felt more confident and comfortable in my skin, I would have grown up to be on of those extra-creative, head-in-the-cloud types.  For better or worse, my life forces me to be ruthlessly practical. 

I hate being ruthlessly practical all the time. I hate thinking in budgets and coupons and how many uses I can get out of this one item all the time.  Sometimes, I want to be creative and dreamy and in my own world. 

Also I probably need therapy. But I'm cheap.

So, writing has been fulfilling two very important needs in my life--a creative outlet and free therapy.
I've needed both of those things this last year.  Our family is in a season of constant change and mishaps and it's been . . . difficult.  Honestly, it's been really, really difficult, like "I want to run away from home" difficult. So the writing has become a lifeline.

This all means when my fairly-new laptop decided to freeze intermittently and never again connect to the internet, it was the proverbial cherry on top.  It wasn't exactly the end of the world but it made writing more challenging for me. We have a desktop that's a dinosaur (in people years, it's seven years old; in computer years, it's 211 years old) but it's chugging along and so was I. 

Then, about a week and a half ago, I got a message from my friend Maria.  I met Maria about five or so years ago when both of our sons attended the same ABA therapy center together.  We're both autism moms which means we are card-carrying members of a very exclusive club.  (We also have a special handshake).  She also owns a local Baby Boot Camp and, after I had Katherine, I braved it and went.

It turned out to be an awesome experience. The atmosphere and especially the people encouraged me to keep coming.  I made more than a few new friends through Baby Boot Camp.  But, most of them, I don't see often.  We stay in touch through Facebook, might see each other occasionally, but otherwise, we are sort of friends from afar. 

But a week and a half ago, out of the blue, Maria called me and asked to meet with me.  "I have something for you," she said. 

I didn't think too much of it, to be honest.  So I arranged to meet at a local McDonald's and, while the kids played, Maria and I chatted and got caught up and wrangled kids (mostly mine). 

Then she handed me a large wrapped present with a card. "What's this?"

"It's for you.  It's from all of us at Baby Boot Camp."

"What?"

She smiled.  "God said that it needed to happen so I listened and we made it happen.  Just read the card."

So I did:

"Dear Sharon,

Thank you for sharing your story on "A Stone's Throw From Perfection." Your writing is poignant, honest, and real. You give us a greater understanding of autism but, most important, how God is ever present and always in control. Your friends at Baby Boot Camp Katy want you to keep on writing. We believe your writing can, does, and will inspire others. We believe your writing can reach the hearts of people near and far.  A crappy computer has no business on a writer's desk . . . and now we can add homeschool mom to your resume. We decided the crappy computer had to go.

Please enjoy this gift and we hope it blessed you and your family the same way you bless all those you meet!

Keep on Writing!
Love, Your Friends at Baby Boot Camp Katy
#publishSharon" 

(Yes, I have my own hashtag now).

You may have guessed already what was in that wrapped box--a brand new laptop.  For me.

Our family has been blessed many times over by more people than I can name. Everything from window repair to helping us pay for therapy.  I'm more grateful than I can say to these people and our family wouldn't survive with their help.  I'm not kidding, we'd fall apart. But having children (especially two with special needs) means they always come first.  Always. 

When I opened that box and stared at that laptop, I was speechless.  This was the nicest thing anyone had done for me, just me, in a long, long time. Maybe ever. The thing is that many of these women at Baby Boot Camp may have never met me, some of them know me in passing, a few would consider me a friend. Maybe they've read my blog a time or two and maybe they haven't. But this gift of a laptop was a life-changing moment for me. There aren't any excuses now. Now I write. And I know that I have a whole lot of mamas who are rooting for me. So it won't just be for me that I'll write, it will be for all of them too.

I've had my new laptop for a week and a half now and I haven't told a single person about it except my husband.  Something about this gift needed to stay all mine for a just a little while.  Each time I use it, I smile and know I have a fan club.  Each time I tell myself I'm too tired or too busy to write something, anything, t day, I remind myself that there's a bunch of people cheering me on.

I have no idea what the future will hold but I do know God and I can't help but think that this has His name all over it, in this gift from these women, in the voice He's given me, in the way He allows me to stitch words together.   The future is not clear (it never is) so I'll keep on writing and watching and waiting because God doesn't work by happy accident. God works with purpose and God is working right now. 

__________

Guess what?  A Stone's Throw from Perfection now has its very own Facebook page.  It needs friends.  Can you help?  Click here to join: A Stone's Throw From Perfection Facebook page

Did you enjoy this read?  Want a good place to start?  Click here: Telling the Truth

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'.
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