“Just as these moments with the fireflies flutter by, so too my children’s lives are mine to shape for a short while. I must remember to do so delicately, to pay attention to detail, so that its importance is truly felt. Every time they shine and light up, just like the fireflies, it is a cause for a small celebration. My children want, no, they NEED, me to celebrate their glowing moments. “Look, Mommy! See what I made?” “Very nice”—that is NOT enough. I am retraining myself to look at the details, to embrace them, and celebrate them.
If you have a special needs child you probably already appreciate every sign of progress no matter how small it may appear to others. However, so rarely do you read or see something that captures that beautiful feeling of joy, hope, love and pride that you feel when your child with speech apraxia who had been essentially nonverbal says “I love you” for the first time. I don’t recall where I first read this poem ‘Oh, Fireflies!’ by Ellen C. Braun, but it resonated with me and believe it will with all parents.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Oh, Fireflies!
by Ellen C. Braun
“I was sitting on the patio with my children surrounding me. They were spotting fireflies in the early summer evening. The feeling was content, and the light breeze in the air was like a sigh at the end of an energy-filled day.
The children’s excitement was palpable, for every time a firefly lit up, they were squealed with delight.
I marveled at how such a little incident could trigger such joy.
It was only much later in the evening, after the exhausting, yet satisfying, routine of dinner, bath time, and bedtime that I thought about the events of the day.
My thoughts kept returning to the pure joy of the children’s fascination with fireflies. They ran around the yard trying to catch one in order to inspect it up close. They reassured me that they weren’t going to hurt it, they just wanted to see its details.
Their curiosity enveloped them and me as they asked a myriad of questions. Before I could answer, the next question was already being articulated. Where do they live? What do they eat? Where does that light come from? Do they change colors? Can we keep one? Why? What do you mean they only live a short while?
At this, I almost felt sorry for answering- their disappointment was sincere and heartwarming.
As I thought about these occurrences, it dawned on me how these seemingly small events have a deeper message to share. Just as these moments with the fireflies flutter by, so too my children’s lives are mine to shape for a short while. I must remember to do so delicately, to pay attention to detail, so that its importance is truly felt. Every time they shine and light up, just like the fireflies, it is a cause for a small celebration. My children want, no, they NEED, me to celebrate their glowing moments. “Look, Mommy! See what I made?” “Very nice”—that is NOT enough. I am retraining myself to look at the details, to embrace them, and celebrate them.
These are my little fireflies, and I will only be privileged to watch them shine if I take the time to look.”
LISA GENG
Lisa Geng is an accomplished author, mother, founder, and president of the CHERAB Foundation. She is a patented inventor and creator in the fashion, toy, and film industries. After the early diagnosis of her two young children with severe apraxia, hypotonia, sensory processing disorder, ADHD, and CAPD, she dedicated her life to nonprofit work and pilot studies. Lisa is the co-author of the highly acclaimed book “The Late Talker” (St Martin’s Press 2003). She has hosted numerous conferences, including one overseen by a medical director from the NIH for her protocol using fish oils as a therapeutic intervention. Lisa currently holds four patents and patents pending on a nutritional composition. She is a co-author of a study that used her proprietary nutritional composition published in a National Institute of Health-based, peer-reviewed medical journal.
Additionally, Lisa has been serving as an AAN Immunization Panel parent advocate since 2015 and is a member of CUE through Cochrane US. Currently working on her second book, “The Late Talker Grows Up,” she also serves as an executive producer of “Late Talkers Silent Voices.” Lisa Geng lives on the Treasure Coast of Florida.