Getty Owl Foundation

Counting Our Many Blessings

From Kate:

What better day than today to rejoice about Thanksgiving yesterday as well as to celebrate Getty’s 20 month birthday. As all kids do, they age and get older. You think about all the clothes they have grown out of, the toys they played with, and you say to yourself, “where did the time go?” I find myself doing that a lot lately. How on earth is Getty already 20 months old?

I think sometimes even in our situation we can also take life for granted. We work so hard to keep Getty healthy that I think sometimes we forget that she is growing into a little lady before our eyes. Last night I had to catch my breath when I looked into her eyes. I was just so overwhelmed by how Getty is maturing and I was just in awe of her beauty and her grace.

Last night we celebrated with my parents, Mark, Getty, and our houseful of animal friends. We opted for an Italian Thanksgiving this year, which means raviolis and all the fixings. It was a very nice and relaxing night. I thank my mom for taking on ALL of the cooking. Mark nor I had the energy to do really anything culinary. So raviolis, salad, antipasti, bread, etc. It tasted amazing!

We were all eating at the table, except for the animals, well no I take that back, Cooper was also with us under the table waiting patiently for something, anything to drop on the floor.

Getty was wearing her new dress and her new haircut. She looked so very cute. We put Getty in the stroller and she was positioned between Mark and I. Everyone dug in. Getty and I kind of shared dinner as we went. I would eat a piece of food and give her a little of it to feel and to smell and then if she was up for it, I would put the item next to her mouth to feel with her lips and tongue. Without fail every piece of food I would give her, she would immediately wince. Her whole face would pucker up as if to say, “what the HELL is this?” And then within a second or so, her eyes would get big and she would show so much joy in the new texture she was touching.

So let’s see, food she did like to hold was the slimy ravioli. She was not quite sure what to make of the chickpea and the kidney bean. She enjoyed crunching on a piece of celery. Her four front teeth made some tremendous bite marks in several vegetables. I was hesitant to give her a piece of raw broccoli. For some reason I thought she would reject it immediately, boy was I wrong.

I put it in her hands and moved her hand towards her mouth. Again, she winced, but when she felt it with her mouth, she was in heaven. She loved the texture and would move the broccoli all around her mouth. It was so much fun to be interacting with her in this way. All four of us were having a great time watching her explore her world. Then came the olives.

She had so much fun moving her fingers back and forth and watching the olives move about. After a few minutes I would swoop in and eat each olive one by one. You could just see her brain working and literally subtracting as I ate another. Just as fast as I ate them, I replaced them with new shiny olives on her little fingers. I believe most of my dinner consisted of olives, raviolis, vegetables, and not much else. My plate was from Getty’s hand or fingers.

Getty had so much fun “playing” with her food. We all had a great time interacting with her the entire time. She was so chatty the entire time and I don’t know how else to explain it, only to say, it will always be a great memory for our family.

After dinner we all just kind of hug out and enjoyed each others company. We couldn’t help but reflect on the year prior. We had just made it home in time to celebrate Thanksgiving after Getty was in the hospital for her g-tube placement. Lots of new changes that now just feel routine. Lots of unknowns that are so clear now. What a difference a year makes.

Every day we count our blessings. Life is so incredibly precious and having Getty with us for another Thanksgiving just makes life that much better, we hope and know that there are more to come.

I have always been enamored with Elanor Roosevelt. I came across this quote and thought it was very  appropriate.

“The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.”

Thank you Getty for continuing to teach us your wisdom.