I choose beauty.

It's been a great couple weeks.  On February 13th, my friends Kirsten and Megan, hosted a Stella & Dot Jewelry party with a portion of the proceeds going to PKS Kids.  There is an online continued sale happening all of February-so thankful for my friends and their support of our little Lu. To view the collection or shop the Trunk Show online click on link http://www.stelladot.com/ts/wxdm5

And Lucia has been very happy, giggly and SO chatty!  Jason and I have talked about how we could listen to her sweet songs for the rest of our lives, oh it is the most beautiful music to our ears!  And tonight, we just returned to Denver from a 'babymoon' in Arizona.  Yes, you can find about any reason to have a party, ie. gender reveal party, or a take a vacation, a babymoon (a trip before a baby comes and changes your life).   We had a 3 night stay in Scottsdale with great weather, plenty of relaxation and quality family time.  It was probably our last vacation with just the 3 of us for a long time, and it was really nice!

While on our trip, we, of course, introduced Lucia to many people we met.  She received so many compliments- "what a good baby she is", and "she is so cute".  We also noticed something we haven't before, people are noticing that Lucia is different.  Maybe we just haven't noticed before, or maybe she's just getting bigger and that time has come.  Whatever is it, it doesn't matter, and I can't say that it hurts, it's just different.  Lucia has a rare syndrome that affects her vision, hearing, brain, heart, lungs, stomach, muscles, and on and on and yes, it affects her appearance, her facial features too.   Jason and I are so proud of our little girl.  We are proud of her accomplishments to drink a bottle, to smile and giggle, to roll, to play with her piano, to make her loud and sweet noises, and we are so proud of her beautiful face and sweet and soft body.

I had someone ask me a simple question about Lucia.  I can't recall what it was, but my response was one that would normally invoke another question, but instead they smiled and looked at Lucia as though they almost expected it, expected something to be different.  That was when it started to sink in.  Then, on the way home from the airport, Jason said what I had been thinking, "I think people can tell that Lucia is different."  He went on to say that a young boy at the airport was staring at her..   My response was just what I think, 'people like to stare at beautiful things'.  I choose beauty.    She is our beautiful and rare bird.   She is the sweetest thing we have ever touched, held, seen or known, and she is ours.

What makes the world go round is our uniqueness and in Lucia's case, she is rare and that is a beautiful thing to us.

This Thursday marks International Rare Disease Day, falling on the last day of February (last year is was on the rare day of February 29th).   A day to celebrate differences, a day to celebrate the beauty of every person, a day to maybe reach out to someone and show your support, and a day to not be afraid of our differences.  I already put this video on Lucia's blog last year but I wanted to include it again, as it is so real.   It's called "Get Closer" and the name says it all.  

http://youtu.be/zFWr-CKMWGY

Don't alienate someone because they look different, embrace the differences as hard is it may seem.  Maybe that someone could turn out to be your best friend, or soulmate, or someone who just teaches us about the human spirit.. and that is most definitely a beautiful thing.