Modest Successes

Families like ours end up celebrating some odd triumphs.  Understandably, we do so in a rather low-key way because no one expects to find themselves celebrating the fact that your teenage daughter has managed to stay a whole night at home in her own bed.  If that sounds rather odd, you have to remember that she has now had 10 months in a hospital ward, and its been about 2 months since she managed to do something that in most families is so ordinary that it is hard to imagine what else you could do.  The challenges of normality!

But not only did Julie manage to stick it out, but she managed a whole evening first of watching television with us, including at least one episode of Futurama.  The only reason there was no Doctor Who on the menu was that she has never forgiven them for letting David Tennant leave.  In another universe not so different from this one, Julie is probably married to David Tennant.

And then Julie did another amazing thing today - she met up with a friend.  A completely normal teenager thing to do, which apparently required handbags (because they did some shopping).  In fact, as they walked off together into the crowd, both clutching their handbags, I was struck by how much the two girls looked like each other - both about the same height, similar weight, similar clothes, both gossipping away.  You know, this is going to sound a bit weird, but after all that we have experienced this last year, it feels absolutely amazing to see her walk off and look just like any other teenager.  In fact, it's enough to make a strong woman cry (but fortunately I'm not that strong).

Now the real challenge is going to be on Monday morning when school starts again. And not content with just trying to get back into studying, Julie has set herself the marathon challenge of returning to her mainstream school and just going straight back into normal lessons.  It's going to be like trying to swim the Channel, but I'm not going to tell her that I think it's too hard for her.  I don't want to undermine her: she's very determined, and she knows the risks as well as I do.  She's going to give it everything she's got, and if she succeeds even partially it will be a huge triumph - far larger than any of her other achievements.  Quite honestly, it would be a far larger achievement than most of mine: certainly more of a achivement than going to university and getting a degree.  Let no one imagine that these things that so many of us take for granted are not worth celebrating.