Silver Linings and Rays of Sunshine

In these hard times and with the uphill battle so many of us are fighting, good news is always welcome. While we are pursuing recognition and redress for the mothers of the EMS, we are also normal people living our lives.

That's why is it so easy to delight in less "news-worthy" but very important good things. A friend, out of work for months, finally got a job. Home prices in our neighborhood rose a bit making our imminent retirement a tad easier and we have received two inquiries already. A friend's granddaughter decided against surrender and is going to keep and raise her expected little boy. A family member with liver failure finally received a transplant and is doing well. My sister-in-law is recovering well from her surgery for early-stage cervical cancer and another sister-in-law is making her way through the grief of the death of her son after three years and is taking a great deal of comfort from her faith. She has also adopted her late son's dog and the two of them have become very good friends. A little girl in my husband's family who was dealing with some hard times and parental neglect has been taken in by her aunt and is loving her new neighborhood and school and has made three new friends.

Those are the things of everyday living, but we tend to fail to appreciate them if we are too single-minded. We can also give the impression that all we are is the sum of our issues and debates online. That's why Internet communication can be misleading. People can seem so one-dimensional.

We mothers who lost our children to coerced surrender during the EMS are everywoman. We live lives that are very similar to everyone else's. Our lives are not constant bitterness and pain. We laugh, we celebrate when appropriate and we fight for justice when appropriate. We are in every walk of life from housewife to artist to secretary to teacher.

I think it is important to stress this so that those who oppose us know that they are not dealing with overgrown teens stuck in the past as has been charged. We were victims then. We are NOT victims today. Our very survival has made us strong. We won't back down from a fight. We have loving families that have our backs. We have adult reunited children who care enough to try to understand.

I would suggest that some of these folks who attack the EMS moms on Yahoo Answers and Craigslist not underestimate us. There is more to us than what you see on a message board.

This is just a FYI that is overdue.