Only Yesterday

While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.

~Angela Schwindt


My precious angel Helena turns 10 today. I can hardly believe 10 years have gone by since she was born. It all seems like yesterday to me.

It was only yesterday that I held her for the first time.



It was only yesterday that she took her first steps - right into my waiting arms.

It was only yesterday that she called me "Daddy" for the first time.





It was only yesterday that she danced, and played, and sang, and I danced and played and sang right along with her.





It was only yesterday that the dancing and the playing and the singing stopped, and autism took over.

And we cried.
And we asked God "Why?"
And we were told she would be a quiet girl, and that she had no imagination.

And we got angry.
And we got determined.

It was only yesterday that we embraced the GFCF lifestyle for her, and discovered the power of hippotherapy.

And the shadow of autism started to lift, and hope began to shine through.
And the dancing and the playing and the singing started again.

And I began to dream once more.

It was only yesterday that the girl who had difficulties with coordination rode a horse while standing on its back.

It was only yesterday that the girl with no imagination won her grade's PTA photography contest with a photograph of her favorite place - a photo shoot she completely designed.

It was only yesterday that the girl who was supposed to be quiet performed in a play at the local community theater.

And I told God 'Why not!"

It was only yesterday that she was 9.

Helena is 10 today.

I marvel at how much she has grown through the years, and how much I have grown with her. While I have tried to raise her to be a proper little girl, she has raised me to be a better father.

Already she is transforming from a little girl into a young woman. Great challenges await her. Challenges that are complicated by autism. But these challenges are not insurmountable. Together, Helena, myself, and our family, we will learn from them, and grow because of them, and somehow find our way. It will be the road not normally travelled, but it will reach the same destination in the end.

And I will always dream, and always tell God "Why not!"






Happy Birthday, dear Helena, my precious little rose. Your Daddy loves you, and will always be here for you.