Future Kids

Yesterday my family and I went to the annual Victorian SSPA Family Christmas Picnic. Despite windy, cold weather it was a lovely day.

I was astounded at the number of families who were there. So many of them! All of the children were no older than 10 years old. There were a couple of families there with babies under 6 months - all new little ones with a dwarfing condition.

I loved watching the little ones run around and play together. As I watched I thought, "Was I ever that cute?" Honestly, your heart just melts. I watched as new friendships were formed between the children and the parents got to spend time together chatting, catching up and gaining that reassurance and understanding that only a support group such as ours can offer. I spent time with some of the new parents with babies newly diagnosed with achondroplasia. I love listening to their stories...from when they first learned of the condition of their baby, through to acceptance and to where they are today. It's both heart-wrenching and exhilarating. One theme runs true though - that everything turns out ok in the end, that things aren't scary and as bad as they thought and that they are so in love with and proud of their child just the way he/she is. I love answering their questions. I love the hope I see in their eyes as they look around at the group, seeing short statured children running around having a ball, adult people with short stature living fun and fulfilling, purposeful lives and other families just like them who are able to relate to where they're at.

I watched those little ones running around and realised I was looking at the SSPA's future. My hope for them is that they are able to take it further than we have, that they will achieve more than we did, that they will also show the world that we're just regular people in a smaller body.

I wanted to take lots of photos to capture the goodness of yesterday but I didn't. Somehow I knew that these families needed their privacy. For a short while at an SSPA event you're just part of a crowd. You're not different, you're not unusual. You're just part of the group. I wanted to preserve that for them. I know how much I crave anonymity and invisibility when I'm out in public so I wanted to at least give them that respect.

Oh but the cuteness!!!