On Wednesday this week, my grandson Simon will reach another milestone in his life. He will celebrate another birthday and will turn 5 years old. Every year that Simon lives to celebrate another birthday is a gift from God. Actually, this statement is true for all of us.
I often think of all the birthdays I have just taken for granted. I don’t believe I could ever convey to my readers just what Simon means to me. Never in all my wildest dreams did I ever believe I could admire a child with a disability, such as Simon, as much as I do.
Simon is oblivious to the fact that he has gotten older. Simon has taught all of us patience. We still are thrilled to death on any new thing he does. He is now able to get into a sitting position if he topples over on the floor. This was something he was barely able to do this time last year, and this year he has mastered this procedure.
He has made himself more verbal and his momma thinks he may have said the word “mama” during the past month. I don’t doubt that he did. This is something she has waited five years to hear. He is trying to talk to us. Please pray he will someday be able to speak to us and tell us his needs.
Simon has learned to scoot over to his movies of Elmo characters and choose through his little cassettes, and as he looks through them he discards them with a flip until he finds the one he wants. That always brings a smile to our faces since we know how big this is.
Simon keeps his mom, dad and brother always wondering what a new day will bring with him. Just last week, he had a procedure done concerning his eyes and his momma told the medical team to please don’t call her name unless something was going wrong. Needless to say, when her name was called, it was frightening as she checked to see with trepidation what could have gone wrong. You see, each time Simon is put under anesthesia, it can be dangerous. Luckily, for them and Simon, he had a hole in his retina that could be repaired that day and he was able to return home that same day. Simon has lived with uncertainty in his life and so does his family.
Therefore, Simon’s life is never taken for granted by us. We treasure the time the Lord has given us with him. He has come such a long way with his Kneist dwarfism dysplasia. Why his condition happened, no one knows, other than a genetic mutation. Simon is at the mercy of those who take care of him on a daily basis and he leads a complicated life.
His parents, his nurses and his family feel like he does more for us than we do for him. Just last week one of his nurses was telling a patient at another hospital about this little boy she takes care of in Winchester when she found out the patient she was attending to that day was from Winchester. Without mentioning Simon’s name, she explained that he does so much for her and how much he means to her. It just happened the lady she was talking to knew about Simon. She finally asked her would he be my grandson, and the nurse said yes. I couldn’t help but think it is true, that anyone who knows Simon can’t help but love him.
I think Simon knows when he comes to Nana and Papa’s house. He knows he will always have a cheesy peanut butter and cracker for a treat. Simon enjoys eating as one of his joys in life, a trait that he definitely gets from his Nana. One of the sweetest sounds in the world is hearing Simon giggle. It is so sweet to his momma’s ears that it has become her ring tone on her phone.
Can he wear a person out pretty quickly? The answer is yes. He has gotten pretty heavy, and of course still has to be carried every where he goes. I still would like to ask you to remember to keep Simon and his family in your prayers. You see, I want to be able to write about him next year on his sixth birthday.
Simon Andrew Cecil, you beautiful little child, you hold a major part in my heart and are a big ray of sunshine of my life.
