Getting a little mushy

I want to publicly say Happy Anniversary to my wonderful supportive husband!  We have been married 7 years today and I can honestly say that these 7 years have been more than I could have ever asked for in a marriage.  Do we have bumps in the road?  Of course, what marriage doesn't, but we learn from them and strengthen the bond we have. 

I don't know, if you have read (or heard on Oprah) the statistics, but over 80% of couples who have a child on the autism spectrum end up divorced.  Now, granted, our child is not autistic, but we live the same life, because his health is a mirror image of a child with an ASD.  We live the diet, the treatments, the supplements, the dreaded lack of coverage from health insurance, the expensive doctors and supplements that our children's health depend on, the new extensive shopping lists and recipes, not to mention the sheer time spent in the kitchen.  It is certainly a stressful lifestyle and then you add to that, the pre-existing family dynamics.  If a relationship is already rocky, this will certainly throw it over the edge.  At a time of such high stress, you will either pull together or fall apart.

For us, living this lifestyle 24/7 has been no walk in the park, but we have always lived in the moment and try to take a lesson away from any difficult situation.  With this, we are learning daily, literally!  As the adults in the family, it's our job to pull together for our children.  We love each other, we love our children and will do anything necessary to keep them healthy and happy.  We take one day at a time, not trying to figure out "when it will be over", because we know that will not help the status of our current lives.  Living in the here and now takes a conscious effort, but it's one worth learning, especially if you are dealing with a child or children who have health conditions that may effect their or your futures.  We approach each day with all the lessons we have learned, but we are willing and open to molding our expectations from whatever it is we learn that day, whether it be about one of our child's personalities, about a new opportunity to make safe and tasty food options for them, or even learning of a new supplement that might help their dysbiosis.  We don't take anything for granted and we know that things can and do change at any given moment. 

So enough said, I just wanted to thank my wonderful husband for being the supportive, hands-on and hard working man that he is.  He is the most selfless person I know and his family always comes first and we are living proof that marriages CAN succeed in this very difficult situation.