So Proud of Lexi

Lexi turned twelve this week. She is officially a young woman no longer to be referred to as a kid, munchkin, squirt, or baby girl. This has been a tough year for Lexi but she has been so brave and so eager to work out her problems that truly she reminds me of the apostle Paul when he said "Therefore I will most gladly rejoice in my afflictions. For when I am weak then am I strong"There have been alot of tears this year, alot of anger, a lot of fear. But at the end of it came one of the most joyous moments of my life. Lexi was just about to be discharged from the University of Utah Neuropschiatric Institute. Ever diligent to the changing moods of my newly medicated daughter I asked her therapist, Andrea, to check on Lexi's mood. We been warned that her new medication could make her manic. This is the last think that we wanted to happened and I worried about it constantly. An hour passed. Andrea and Lexi appeared from the therapy room. "Well," I asked, "is she going manic. Do we have to stop this medicine?" Andrea laughed and flashed her most heartwarming smile. "Kris, Lexi is not manic, she is HAPPY." Hmmm...happy. Is it possible that my little girl has been suffering for so long that I couldn't recognize her happy? The thought breaks my heart. Happy. Whoever could have imagined that this one word could be so elusive, so soughtafter, and yet so unregognizble when we finally obtain it? My eyes filled with tears (just as they are now) and my heart burned within my chest. Lexi had just recieved the greatest birthday present ever: the gift of happiness. And she gave it to herself through bravery, determination and perseverence.I am so proud of her. There are adults who seek their whole lives for what she has figured out by age 12. And so I repeat, she is no longer a kid. She is amazingly wise, special, beautiful young lady. And we, her family and friends, are blessed simply by her presence.