Monday, September 5, 2011

Rites of Passage

I've been thinking today that part of the general discontent that has come with Acorn having no trach is that it was so darn anti-climactic. Nothing in this parenting journey of ours has been all that typical, and this entry into "normal" life should have come with a more defined transistion.

Normal people have a full term pregnancy that goes through certain phases, they have their baby and come home, and life goes on - though obviously, there's a tranistion to be made, it's a socially expected transition, one that everyone knows to expect. Kids have birthdays, they start school, everyone celebrates these things.

We had Acorn (and Leaf) before many people realized I was pregnant. Instead of coming home with him, he stayed in the hospital, and I went back to work. We didn't have a baby shower; our "welcome home" party was his first birthday (and it was not all that enjoyable, really). We've counted up hundreds of inchstones, and a few big milestones, but no one really celebrates them but us. Big changes, all around, rolled up into this one gateway event, but no real celebration of it.

I think what we need is some sort of rite of passage ceremony. I'm not sure what, yet - the various texts I have obviously don't talk about a decannulation ceremony. In fact, most of them don't talk about anything other than the typical birth, coming of age, marriage, and death ceremonies, so I guess some creativity is in order.

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