01/13/2026
A Dandelion!
I like to joke that it's the last one of the season. Insert Sid from Ice Age here.
But this dandelion is so much more to me. It was beautiful this morning when my daughter took her time to find and pick one. We are in Alabama and it was 40 this morning. She was looking in the yard like she lost something.
I watched for about 5 minutes til she bent down and found this one dandelion. Most of us moms don't truly take the time to show our babies every time we get flowers. We thank them and hug them and throw it down on the counter while the day's tasks are looming over my head like a bad thunderstorm rolling in. I dismissed it. I was grateful but not just for the flower.
You see my daughter Chloe is 15, she is mentally delayed. Meaning she functions like a 7 year old in most cases. But she brought this inside so proud and I gave her a hug for the 10,000th time today. (She Loves hugs and any type of love)..
That's her way, she has to have constant love. And i am fine with that, because after her biological mother died from pneumonia when she was 4, her dad was an addict and didn't have time with them. Their bio dad would leave my oldest daughter Bailey to care for Chloe. Chloe was 5 and Bailey was almost 7.
The late night binges and disappearing acts left lasting scars, ones that my husband and I try daily to fix. Scars that are so deep even though she doesn't remember it, they still follow her.
She is my baby girl, shes a mini me, there is no adopted daughter, step daughter in this family. They are my babies. Blood or not! But tonight after that long day, I'm cleaning the kitchen and I found this.
It really bugs me that I didn't stop to hug her more and show more excitement. It was a hard day for me, I didn't feel good and i just wanted it to be done.
I am just so proud of the loving, thoughtful, beautiful soul God allowed me to raise. I can't explain it, she was doubted by school systems, doctors and mental health. She has bypassed all their goals and things they told me she would never be able to do. I find that a huge victory for us as a family and especially her. She may not ever live on her own and I'm fine with that. I just worry about the day i have to leave this world that someone cares for my babies how I do.
Because they are so very special in every way! I love you Coco bear! Mama is so proud of you! We will continue to prove the world wrong! Just because a child doesn't fit into the "normal" standards category doesn't mean you just write them off and stop trying! Those kids are the ones you should give the most credit to!
Tomorrow i know she will bring me another flower if the cold doesnt kill them first and when she does I plan to hug her and hold her a little tighter!
Goodnight mamas!
