[Nevertheless] She Turns Eleven

Every time one of my children has a birthday, I marvel at how quickly time goes and how fast children grow up. I think every parent does.

As my youngest child, I often think of Alia as a little kid, even though she's rarely acted like one, even as a toddler. Nevertheless, she turned eleven today. 

Over the past year, Alia was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome hypermobility type. She's spent more time in the emergency room this year with dislocations and experienced more complications from them than in years past. 

And she's come through it all with an amazing attitude and has a blast in physical therapy.

Now a sixth grader, Alia has become "old enough" to go to dances and other events at Epoch Arts that she was too young to participate in a year ago. 

Alia displayed works of art she created in Artopia and Arts Response. She participated in two Speak Out events on opioid addiction and got up in front of the Arts Response audience and spoke about living with chronic pain and managing that pain in a way that avoids taking addictive medications. 

Photo courtesy of Epoch Arts

She built, decorated and learned to play a ukulele, sang with our church choir, was in The Emperor's New Clothes at Drama Camp and Camp Calumet, and went to performances of the Nutcracker, Pippin, and more, and spent countless hours in the CT Science Center in between medical appointments. 

Alia has gone through some pretty tough stuff this year with her health, and always impresses me with her maturity and sense of humor through it all.

Eleven things about Alia on her 11th birthday...

1. Alia laughs when she's in a lot of pain, which confuses ER doctors and nurses.

2. Alia is good at making beautiful works of art with just about anything, as proven in Art Challenge class.

3. Alia is good at keeping other people organized, but not so much her room.

4. When Alia makes a life decision, she sticks with it ... and tweaks it as necessary to experience joy ... such as becoming a pescatarian over a year ago, and adding eating bacon to her diet because bacon.

5. When Alia gets interested in something, she fully delves into it and learns all she can.

6. Alia can make friends with anyone of any age.

7. She has a diverse and quite eclectic taste in music.

8. She is kind and compassionate, but can deliver tough love when necessary.

9. Alia makes the best out of situations - day full of medical appointments with time in between? We'll just hang out at the Science Center!

10. Alia knows the value of boundaries - she loves to help out, but also isn't afraid to say no if it's something beyond what she wants to do or is capable of.

11. Alia always looks forward to doing and experiencing new things.