Life is tough, but so are We

Last week I received a wonderful facebook message that read like this:

"Hi Misha how are you? I just wanted to share that our son Luke sat up on his own tonight He's 8 months next Tuesday but he was a month premature so that puts him right on target for that milestone which they say should happen from 4-7 months. We are thrilled that he's developing so much strength in his muscles. Maybe all the therapy we are doing is working Anyway I just wanted to share. Take care x" Firstly, it made me feel so good to be one the first people to know about little Luke's big achievement and secondly it made think about how lucky little Luke is. You might be wondering what I mean, you see, I often think that people that are born with a disability are blessed with patience, constancy and perseverance.  Since the day we are born, we have to find a way to do things that come as an instinct for most, things like sitting up, crawling, taking your hand to your mouths when you are teething to try to sooth the pain. For us, those movements weren't granted, we had to fight against our genetics to get it done. All of these struggles help us build strong characters from a very young age, there is no telling you can't do this or that to a boy or girl, that had to go through months, or even years of therapy just to learn how to button their shirt, perseverance is a gift that is etched in our souls. With all this hard work always present in our lives, we always know that if we want something, we will have to work for it, things in life don't come easy, but you can make anything happen as long as you give it your all. And that is one of the reasons I feel blessed for having been born with Arthrogryposis, yes my life is a constant battle of how to get things done, I probably need to try doing something 100 times before I get right, but I do it in the end, and that's brilliant training for when something difficult happens in my life, there is no thinking about it, there is not an option to do it or not, I just go for it, life has been a challenge since the day I was born, and thanks to that I know how to deal with difficulties. So, when your child is struggling with life, just remember, "Life is tough, but so are We." Ps, I asked for permission from Luke's mom to post her message.