Janet Williamson and her two sons, Curtis & Bobby
It isn’t a light like any other light,
No matter what you do, it will not look “right”
Take the word normal and throw it away
And stop listening to what other people say
It isn’t a stigma or a mark of great shame
All the world’s people don’t have to be the same
This time right now is about adjusting and coping
Loving and patience and wondering and hoping
And there will be days when you do that with tears
Your mind will be overtaken with all of those fears…
What will happen, what will he become?
Will all of the teachers think he is dumb?
Will people never see in him the things that I see?
The love and the kindness and the things he might be?
Will they ever see past the actions they call wrong?
And understand that he wants to belong?
When I come to the playground will he be at play?
Or sitting on the sidelines where they’ve told him to stay?
The answers to these questions aren’t easy to find
ADHD most days is the blind leading the blind
But on days when the tunnel is dark and so deep
In your heart and your soul his face you must keep
Picture the child you know that he is
Nothing can ever take away this
No amount of phone calls and letters from school
Can change the fact that our children are cool
They don’t act like robots, and they never will
They stay interested in something until they get their fill
They don’t think in the box, they shatter the sides
And they break all the rules that they can’t abide
But if ever you want heart and loyalty and love
Don’t look at the ones who achieve far above
The ones who think that they’re in the know
Don’t have half the compassion our children will show
So look at the child in the “tunnel” with this sight,
In your darkest of moments, HE is your light.
Janet Williamson
Note from the author: My son Bobby is severely ADHD and served by OHI in school