Elphaba

Sometimes I feel like Elphaba from Wicked. Green face. Different than others. Not wicked, just not like you. I’m in a different club. A club of green face moms who measure output and diligently measure milliliters of input. Our children have foreign objects in their body that help keep them alive. We compare poo consistency as if we are talking about the weather. Our children see their pediatricians and specialists more than our relatives. We’re different.

In the beginning, I would walk around Target and watch happy moms in their skinny jeans with their perfectly healthy children and want to scream. I wanted to run up and say “Don’t you know? My son’s brain is shrinking! How dare you have a happy normal life.” Other people don’t understand this….but the green face moms do. They completely get it. I don’t even have to explain a thing and they just know.

I attended a luncheon today and met other green face moms. It was more than I could have asked for. Amazing. Joyful. Sad. Therapeutic. Wonderful. A room full of strong women who have endured and are continuing to endure unimaginable heartache. There was flowing conversation, laughs, and of course, tears.

The best thing was….I wasn’t the only one in the room with a green face. I wasn’t alone. I’m not alone. I finally felt like I found my people. I was sitting at a table with a group of women who I have only connected with on Facebook. I am overjoyed that we all had a few hours this morning to just be girlfriends. We weren’t tending to our children, rescheduling appointments for the week, or writing down the 20th item on our to-do list. We were enjoying ourselves. We even shaved our legs and put mascara on our beautiful green faces.

I used to wish my green face would go away. It isn’t going to, and to be honest, I no longer want it to. I think I’m rockin’ the green face….and so are YOU my green face mamas. More than you know.

Thank you to Chad Greenway’s Lead the Way Foundation for bringing all of us together. Truly inspiring and life changing.