Because they can. (Day 235)

I want to tell you about the three kids in this picture. 


I took this picture after we hiked a challenging trail to waterfalls and then back again to the trailhead. It's never easy with three. They fight. They each have their own particular issues. No one agrees. Someone runs ahead. Someone feels left out. Someone offends someone. 

The oldest, my Lily, she has conquered more than anyone I know--born 11 weeks early and unable to breathe on her own; and then the brain tumor and all the physical challenges that came with having a tumor in the back of her brain and the shunt failures and recoveries. Her balance isn't my balance or your balance--it is sometimes elusive. But still, she perseveres, literally climbing mountains. Today, up and down a rocky trail, scrambling on boulders and slipping through dirt. 

She does it because she can. 

That boy in the middle, Nicholas,  was never supposed to be. He is the third child I wanted, but never had the faith I would have because of my own health. Yet, here he is. He climbs and he scrambles and he jumps and he swims and he does everything because he can.

And that girl in the way back--the girl who survived a premature birth--born at just 31 weeks. She is the one who leads up and leads down. Chloe is the girl ready for adventure and always looking up to the stars and to the universe to find it. She climbed and gazed upon waterfalls and paddle boarded her day away--she did it because she can. 

And this very simple fact that my children do things because they can is not a little thing--it is everything. They never stop trying or doing, even when it is hard. This kids inspire me everyday to simply do things because I can. 





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