I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. We had a good weekend, although a cold February weekend. On Friday night I got a notification on my phone for a snow squall warning. I’d never heard of one, even though we get a lot of snow. A snow squall happens when snow comes in such a short, intense burst with strong winds that it can cause an immediate whiteout or near whiteout. Luckily we were already in the house for the night. Life is filled with a lot of unexpecteds, unknowns and learning. No matter how old I get I feel like I’m always learning things.
This Wednesday our second son, Sam, leaves on a two year church mission. If you follow us on social, you might have seen Sam. He is our 19 year old who does advocates for and teaches about Tourette Syndrome. He was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome in kindergarten.
The only real, concrete knowledge I had of Tourette Syndrome before that was a friend in my college education classes with Tourette Syndrome. One day while we were sitting around on a short break from group work he said, “Hey, in case you all don’t know I have Tourette Syndrome.” I looked at him, probably a little surprised because I’d heard of Tourette, but didn’t really know what that meant. I’d never really noticed anything different about him. He said, “Sometimes you might hear me make some noises and move my wrist like this…” Then he talked about a few other things he did that I can’t specifically remember. It didn’t throw me off. He was the same friend and nothing had changed about him. After telling us, I subconsciously realized I had noticed them. Yet, I had never actually recognized them until he told us about them.
Years later our family has learned a lot more about Tourette Syndrome. Our youngest child was recently diagnosed with Tourette, as well, and we’re learning about her version of Tourette, which right now appears to be mild, but we know Tourette can change over time.
With Sam leaving this week on his mission, we’re prepared to learn again. Although Matt, our other son, left on his church mission to England about nine months ago and we’ve learned along the way with him, somehow I still feel like I don’t know what to expect with Sam leaving and I’m facing learning all over again.
Yesterday my husband spoke in church. He mentioned how many people in our congregation have helped our family in both big and small ways. When my life is filled with changes like Sam leaving this week, things to learn, and crazy unexpected things like snow squalls, I’m grateful to know that I’m not alone in this whole learning thing part of life. Whether you have a life filled with unexpecteds and things to learn this week or it’s a pretty typical week, I hope you have a good week with people to learn along the way with you!
Love,
Katie
