Our Teal Village: #foodallergyawareness

I wrote this last year when Asher was in school and about to be homeschooled (not because of food allergies). It makes me emotional looking back at how selflessly people took care of my child. 

To end #foodallergyawarenessweek, this one goes out to the village of people who have kept Asher safe while he left my care every day and walked into a school building.

When you send your food allergy child off to...anywhere it can be so scary. Heck, it can be scary even when you’re THERE. But to send them somewhere daily where you won’t be requires a high level of trust in their surroundings and their caretakers. It requires lots of prayer that everyone has listened and takes it seriously. It requires me letting go a little when in this medical complex life I feel like I can’t let go at all.

In Asher’s school career, I have been surrounded by the most amazing mothers, fathers, grandparents, caretakers and teachers. They have all served to parent my child because they keep him as safe as possible and he doesn’t even realize it.  This means that they care for his sense of inclusion also. There is nothing better than that. My heart soars when I realize that while he knows that he is different than other kids (and every kid is different than other kids in some way) he doesn’t feel less than. He is even lifted up because of it. This will enable him to lift others up.  I appreciate things like:

*His mama being covered by the teachers’ special Asher safe snack drawer when I forget to send in a snack on another child’s birthday

*Teachers and parents texting labels to me literally every single week.  Every single school event.  Every single birthday party. Every single craft they do in school. Every single field trip.

*Those same people checking on us after reactions, praying for us, offering to come and sit with me in the hospital.

*The moms coming together to get me through a panic attack when we walked into the woods on a field trip because nature always tries to kill Asher and I wasn’t sure how far in we were going.  Would I have cell service?  Would an ambulance be able to reach us???? Deep breaths turned into deeper breaths that turned into panic. (Where were we? Hours away?  No, the Huntington Museum of Flipping Art…I mean how far in could we go? We were in Huntington! Haha)

We could not do this without you. 

You are our teal village.  

This isn't limited to school...it's every little circle in our lives turning blue for The Hutchinsons. My appreciation is too much for words, although I sure tried didn’t I? You people are love in action which makes it so hard to leave the building where Asher was cared for so fiercely. There is no other group of people I could have done this with, that I know!