

For Jessica - Calamitous
http://jenniferlawler.com/wordpress/?p=747

======
mishmash
Our almost three year old son was born with a severe "expressive language
disorder" which means his IQ and motor skills are normal, but he can't really
talk.

And yet he tries so hard to communicate with us, but even after several years,
it's still often impossible to determine what he's trying say.

It makes me very sad to know how trapped and frustrated he must feel, to lack
the most basic mechanism of human interaction, but at the same time, it feels
so great to love him in such an unconditional way - a way that he will likely
not even know or experience until he has children of his own - that it makes
me feel both very free and very lucky to have him in my life.

One of my most cherished goals in life is to simply live long enough to see
him have this same opportunity I have received, and hopefully be able to
reciprocate this love to his own children.

A scenario of which, I am also very lucky to still have my parents around and
know that they have had the same chance to witness in me.

Very touching story, indeed.

------
run4yourlives
Holy. Fucking. Shit.

As a father of two wonderful, intelligent and amazing little boys who have
never been required to endure anything close to what the author's daughter is
faced with, I say:

This is probably the most beautiful thing I have ever read. It not only
highlights 3 wonderful yet perfectly "normal" people in a way that sums up
what it means to be human, it addresses the study brilliantly, mirroring
exactly as I feel.

------
jesseendahl
Site seems to be down. Google cache here:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:UAKJTH0...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:UAKJTH0TocoJ:jenniferlawler.com/wordpress/%3Fp%3D747+jennifer+lawler+for+jessica&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in)

...

cheald: "That was one of the most poignant, beautiful, moving expressions of a
person's heart and soul that I've ever read."

Yes.

------
geedee77
That is so moving I actually had to stop reading it a couple of times to stop
the tears that were forming in my eyes. Thank you for sharing it.

------
cheald
I don't see how that has any relation to HN, but wow. That was one of the most
poignant, beautiful, moving expressions of a person's heart and soul that I've
ever read.

~~~
rada
The article/study she is responding to was highly upvoted on HN a couple weeks
ago:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1494011>

------
elbrodeur
What a strong human. I poked around her site and found another very special
essay of hers that, if you enjoyed this one, you will like:

<http://jenniferlawler.com/after_dakota.html>

------
wallflower
Wow. Thank you for posting this

------
fanboy123
Seems like the story of a brave woman. I am not sure how this addresses the NY
article however.

------
jawn
Yes! This is the pain and joy of truly living!

------
jk8
I am not sure if it's a virus or not but the site is trying to install
something and my symantec just complained and I closed the browser. I think it
was the article.

