Magical Moments Chapter 4

Magical Moments Chapter 4

People Have More Than Five Senses

Years ago when I lived in the Northwest, my family and I had the privilege of being part of a support group for families who had children who had moderate to profound disabilities. We met monthly for family nights.

Once a year we had a three day camp out at a beautiful lake. Families had their own cabins and slept together but for most of the days all children had camp counselors, who guided them on nature walks,swimming, boating,all kinds of athletics, arts & crafts and more. At the same time all adults went to support meetings and classes. At night each family took turns entertaining the rest of us.

I will never forget one family. At first glance this was a perfect family. The husband was handsome and the wife was beautiful. They had four beautiful children. It was as warm and caring a family as I had ever seen.I made it a point to be friendly with them and they returned my friendliness.

They had a little four year old daughter who was so full of life, they had another daughter who at age fourteen was already a beautiful young lady.They had a twelve year old son who had as good a heart as anyone I have ever met. He was the kind of boy any father would have been glad to see their daughter being friendly with. He had a ten year old brother who looked like he was from California. He had piercing blue eyes and blond hair. He looked like a boy you might find running on a beach in one of the many beaches in Southern California, except he would never be able to run or even walk. He was special. He was a boy who had special needs.

One night as I was enjoying the stars in a beautiful northwest sky, the father of this wonderful family joined me and after a bit of small talk, I made a comment on how he had his hands full with his young son. He asked me if he could tell me about his son. I told him of course he could. He told me he believed that people have more than five senses. He said of the five senses touch, taste, hearing, vision and smell he only knew that his son had one of them. None of his other senses worked, not even touch. His son only had the sense of taste. He told me that you could dress his son in a swim suit and put hm out in a blizzard and he would not know he was cold, or conversely bundle him up in blankets on a hot summer day and his son would not know he was hot. He said that there is another sense and that is the sense of love.

He told me that his wife could look at her son and know what he needed, when he was upset, when he was sad or happy. He told me that when his wife looked at her son and he looked back at her through his sightless eyes, there was a connection that could only be explained by love. He felt that his wife had more of a connection with their little boy than the rest of the family did, but that the rest of the family felt and enjoyed the sixth sense of love as well.

The father told me that he when he was near his son, talking to him, helping him and even touching him that this father felt a connection that could only be love. He told me that the little boy's brother and sisters interacted with him by choice because they too could feel that sixth sense of love.

"You know people feel sorry for us" he said "but I feel more sorry for them. Every day I see and feel unconditional love. My family is part of a miracle. All of my children know more about love than they could have learned in a life time with out my son's life challenges." he said. "It's like my son has brought magic to our family. As a result of my son only being able to use one of his five senses he has allowed us to know that human beings have another sense, the best of all of our senses, the sense of love." He said all things considered  I wouldn't trade places with anyone.

I have spent fifteen years reflecting on my magical moment of that night so long ago. It occurs to me that magical moments are very fragile. We could miss them by a closed mind or self pity.Sometimes I miss gifts presented to me because I am not looking for the magical moments. Life is full of magical moments and missed opportunities. It's our choice.