My Angel

It is very often that I call K. "angel" or "my angel." I do it so often that she believes she is a true angel sent to us from God. Who's going to argue with that? I can't say enough just how blessed I am to be K.'s mom. It is such a gift.

Recently she has become more aware of her cleft lip and palate, but only because other children (usually older children) have asked her about her scars (which truly are very minimal). In my explanations to her I tell her she was born with a broken lip that was shaped like a heart and that God gave us very special doctors to repair her lip to help her to eat, drink and speak more easily. She is completely satisfied with my response, which is the complete truth, and is so proud of her cleft. We tell her it only makes her more special.

At the end of her kindergarten school year, she met an adult at her school who was also born with cleft. She came home that day to tell me that she had met another special angel from God and she worked at her school. And added, "Can you believe it?" I was pretty close to tears.

This year she'll most likely have to deal with a lot more questions as she'll begin seeing an orthodontist soon and another surgery will be scheduled in the not-so-distant future (possibly within the next couple of years depending on growth, etc.) She has lost several "baby teeth" and her permanent teeth are arriving in all sorts of crazy directions.

I hope her confidence in herself only grows and that she'll be able to answer those tough questions like the angel she is. I couldn't be happier that she is proud of such a minor thing (her scars) that makes her different and that she is accepting of everyone and the things that make us all different. I wish more people could be just like her, including myself.