REMEMBERING OUR FIRST MPS AWARENESS DAY
I’m still numb from it all. But my heart is exploding! I still look back on all of the happiness the community gave to us on that day and it is just beyond amazing. I’m forever grateful of our first year on awareness day, in celebration of our sweet boy.
I woke up feeling like it was Christmas morning. I told Owen the night before that so many people and all of his friends at school was going to wear purple for ‘Owen day.’ And even though he doesn’t understand what is going on, he was so excited. Oh, there were so many emotions. So many. Happy ones, confused ones, devastated ones. You name it, I had it at some point throughout the day. But I kept reminding myself that this day was for a celebration! We made it, we have an answer for him! He is happy and I’ve worked SO hard for THIS day for him!
It was a rainy, gloomy day and we were rushing to get out the door for school that morning. I remember just needing sunshine to help get me through the day, not gloom. A friend showed up just as I was thinking about that, as I came around the corner to walk out the door. She stood in the rain at my door with these ribbons she had made up the night before. I remember feeling so in awe over her and then just a little sad because my personal creativity hasn’t been around to think of these kinds of things myself! I’m so thankful for you people. Every single one of you.
I decided to have lunch with him that day. The main office and each classroom that I walked by on the way to the cafeteria flooded the entire school in the color purple. It was so surreal. So emotional and overwhelming. So heartwarming. So darn special. Everything felt like it was in slow motion. Kids walking in the halls, looking and waving at me, kids moving through the lunch line… I would see all of the children’s laughter to each other. It was all the kind of slow motion like something you would see in a movie. And then I looked at him. He smiled at me above his glasses, waved and asked, ‘Mommy, you have lunch with me today? Are you happy?’ I’m so happy, sweet boy. Gosh, I was so happy.
(Insert happy tears rolling down my cheeks caused from this sweetest smile below)
My Facebook feed flooded with purple with each scroll, of people wearing Owen’s color or changing their profile photo to support him. So many messages and hugs. It was such a wonderful day. There were so many different emotions running through my head and through my body and with all the sadness that came with his diagnosis, I still couldn’t help just to feel happy. My heart was happy, this day was happy, and really, it was kind of a little break from all of the doctors and appointments and emotions for everyone in our family, just to relax and truly be happy. We still went to school, he still had therapies, it was still just an ordinary (but magical) day. And my sweet boy was happy.
From the time we found out about his diagnosis, we had just 13 days until National MPS awareness day! I honestly felt like it was more like 3 or 4, haha. In that time frame we received gifts + flowers as a family, our first order of 200 bracelets were sold out and so many people took the time to find a purple shirt to wear for him for this day. His school created flyers that were sent home to each child in hopes that they could help support Owen last minute, other schools in the area made digital banners for everyone to see and sent out mass emails to be a part of his supportive community. There were people posting on his page that were states away, wearing purple for him, making videos, it was just beyond any kind of expectation that I’ve ever imagined it would be.
I will never be able to hug all of you, but please take this post as just that. The biggest, tightest, and truly never ending hug from a mama who appreciates everything you all have done. You truly will never know how much you all mean to us. Thank you for being our support system. Owen is so blessed. And I truly know that he feels all the love!
Here are just some of our purple supporters! Enjoy them with us, and please go to his page under the ‘community’ tab if you’d like to see more!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this day! xx
