I have a new job, which means I have been plunked down into someone else’s office in a new work environment with its own culture.  It’s incredible.  This is where I am meant to be, and that feels really good.

I work in a law office that represents parents of special needs kids, and guess what that means?  A good number of the staff here (we’re a small office, but let’s call it 50%) are also parents of special needs kids; some now adults, some still going through the public school system.

I am nothing short of amazed at how hard parents of kids with learning challenges, physical impairments, or mental health needs, to name just a few types of disabilities, need to work not just to advocate for their own children, but to make it through the day.  Every day.

Suddenly, I feel like a moron for losing it over how frustrated I get when my preschooler talks back to me, or the fact that my toddler won’t eat anything but tortilla chips and ketchup.  To think I expressed annoyance when the baby got big enough, and strong enough, to race up the stairs and pull all her clothes out of her dresser drawers.

How could I ever silently wish my 3-year-old would just be quiet and stop bugging me already, when some children will never learn to speak?

We all have our moments.  But some parents have moments that are entire lifetimes.  I can remember that the next time I am about to lose it over a potty accident or an entire box of cheerios on the floor.