New BlogHer Post: Choosing to Parent a Child With Special Needs

I might be holed up in a cute little studio at an off-season ski resort with vertigo-inducing views of the Carson Valley while my handsome husband mountain bikes the Tahoe Ridge Trail; I might be cursing extortionate internet access rates while praising my mother's timeshare sorcery in getting us this place for $35/night, but damn it, it's still a BlogHer Tuesday for me -- and that means a new post.

Today's foray is about choosing to parent, live, love, and work with our kids with special needs.

Mostly, I'm grateful for and humbled by the people who do it by choice, not because of some celestial travel agent's decision to send them to Holland instead of Italy. Not that we don't appreciate Holland. Pot is legal, after all, and I enjoy talking with Holland's denizens about why they are content, and have nothing against Italy, but it's not relevant to them.

The bulk of the BlogHer post is an interview with the foster parent of a Deaf teen who has oppositional-defiant disorder and other labels. That dad -- a friend from college -- is an amazing man, and reading what he has to say is worth your time.

I also talk about dropping Leo off at week-long sleepaway camp, and the palpable positive energy of the counselors there. I didn't talk about how I held it together, didn't cry until I heard a radio commentator describe Euna Lee's reunion with her daughter while I drove away from my son. I'm choosing to tell you that here, now, in my personal blog.