Risking Hope

For those of you who may have missed it, here is our latest video. It is about hope and never giving up. Autism is medical and our children do get better. Take a few minutes and watch our children as they come out of the darkness and return to health.

About five years ago, I had just given birth to my daughter, and I was running from one clinic to the next with my son, desperately looking for answers . . . and a little hope.  We had a plant that we had gotten a few years earlier which had gradually lost all its leaves until there was only one left. One day, I was about to toss what was left of this plant in the garbage.  But, as if life wanted me to understand — at a time when I most needed it — the importance of hope and the importance of the intention we project into things , my husband stopped me: “As long as there is a life, there is hope for this leaf to regain all its strength and become the beautiful plant it once was.”

And so on that day, we decided to believe that this leaf would grow back into what it was.  We let go of the doubt, believed it would and just decided to let it happen.

Fast forward five years: This is our plant, and it is my daily reminder that hope is everywhere — if you believe it is.

Hope is risky, I will admit it, and to many of us the possibility of hope leading to possible disappointment is just too great a risk. But, to me, the other options don’t leave us feeling any better. In fact, they end up creating more damage in our lives than if we just let ourselves hope.

I don’t know what the correct answer is; I ‘m not sure there is even a correct answer. All I know is that the only thing that has kept me going on this difficult journey is hope.  Call me naïve or even a fool, but without hope I would not have lasted a day. In my darkest hours, I desperately looked for hope, and, when I found it, I clung to it and never let go.

Hope first came when I started researching for other answers. Research became an obsession until I found hope in other parents’ success stories, and, eventually, I found hope right here at home — through my son’s everyday progress and through believing that it could unfold right in front me. I allowed myself to eventually let go into what was already around me, and use the power of our intentions. As my friend Alison once told us, “What if hope is in the field of potential? What if we let go of the small bits of doubts, worry and negative possibilities?

I could sit here and talk about hope for hours, but instead I chose to show you hope, because a picture is worth a thousand words.

Please watch our children as they come out of the darkness and return to health. May their faces be a reminder of future possibilities. Thank you to the wonderful parents who kindly submitted their children’s beautiful pictures–before and now pictures, and thank you for their thoughts on hope.

If you cannot view the above video, Click Here.

~ Prima