Climbing Every Mountain: More than a Song
My life journey has been to try and create an inclusive world where everyone belongs, a decent quality of life for my family, and particularly my son Aaron who has the label of autism.
“Aaron” means high mountain
My husband and I have always loved the mountains. In hindsight, maybe instead of naming our first born “Aaron,” which comes from the Hebrew meaning “high mountain,” we should have chosen a different name which meant something like “gentle stream” or “quiet brook.” 🙂
Climb Every Mountain
In 1965, I was part of a small group of aspirants who put on our Sunday black veils and were given special permission to go “into the world” to see The Sound of Music in a real movie theater. When Mother Superior started singing Climb Every Mountain, me–Mary the aspirant– prayed that I too would find,
“a dream that will need all the love you can give, every day of your life for as long as you live.”Â
Perhaps another misstep. Seems that God chose to answer that prayer. But then, Helen Keller who knew a thing or two about disabilities, wrote: “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all.”
So climbing every mountain, my life continues to be an incredible daring adventure and though I get discouraged and exhausted, I feel blessed and know I am making a difference.
For Parents and Caregivers of People who have Disabilities and are Elderly
As parents and caregivers of vulnerable people each of us is climbing our own mountain. Each of us is searching for courage and fellow travelers. Often in our real world, our family, friends and even the professional staff who are being paid to help us don’t share our vision. When my parents turned 80 and physically became vulnerable, I was able to use many of the lessons and information I learned with Aaron to help them improve their quality of life. There are many similarities for those who can look past the stigma of “disability.”
Make a Comment, Join our TEAM
I am hoping you will want to join this community of climbers and paradigm pioneers as we prepare emotionally and practically for the journey to the summit.
I am hoping you will consider this site a sort of Base Camp where we gather to dream dreams, trade resources and share the personal stories that make each of us a unique gift to this world.
I am hoping you will add comments and chat with us. I’m hoping you will sign up to “Get New Posts” (top left on homepage) and be notified by email each time a new article is posted.
Climbing the Blogging Mountain
Experience with including my son and other vulnerable people into the community–I have, but I’m trying hard not to panic as I begin this new journey into websites and blogging.
I’m hoping the great stories, useful tips and information will make up for my lack of tech “savyness”. And yea, if we are going to be trying to create a new inclusive world that never existed before, I will make up words from time to time.
Welcome! As life puts new mountains before us, grab onto that life rope and climb with us.
Great post thanks, needed a few more pictures maybe.
Glad you liked it. Life really requires a team effort. BTW: I’m still figuring out the whole picture thing. Hope you’ll come back and see my progress.
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!
Bless you. I’m just starting so we can forgive Google for now. Tell me more about your journey.
Here in Oregon people love to cover themselves with tattoos. It’s sort of hobby with us. So I am always interested in seeing what others are doing and learning new things. Thanks for the post.
Interesting. We cover our body and spirit with many things. I hope your pictures are inspiring to you on your life journey.
Took me awhile to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It proved to be very useful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It’s always nice when you can not only be informed, but also engaged! I’m sure you had fun writing this article.
Welcome, hope you will come back and join our community.
Great post and website! I have bookmarked it and will check back ofter. I also linked you to my site.
Great. I’ll check out your site. You will have to tell me how to link to your site. Sorry, but I am really new to this.
Wonderful blog! I actually love how it’s easy on my eyes and also the information are well written. I am wondering how I might be notified whenever a new post has been made. I have subscribed to your rss feed which ought to do the trick! Have a nice day!
Thanks. I’ve been trying to learn about blogging for the last two years and follow MenWithPens.ca, Copyblogger.com and many of the experts. I still have so much to learn. But, I’ve started–so that was the biggest step.
I’m hoping to be able to get a subscriber application as soon as funds are available. Your comment is so encouraging.
Let me know what kinds of issues you are interested in.
Thanks a million for this, I appreciate the info
Glad to help. I hope you will contribute some stories to our base camp.
Great job on the website. It looks awesome and I’m proud to have Aaron and Mary in my family. You Tom and Tommy have done a great job raising Aaron to be the man he is today. Thank you for always having a kind and caring heart. Love, Jared
Jared, that is sooooo sweet. You are growing into a remarkable young man too.
Mary, it seems you’ve hit the ground running, my friend! Fabulous job on the new blog! Your insights into what it means to be an advocate and the strength with which you carry on as a crusader is truly admirable.
That is a big compliment coming from you. You certainly know the special education minefield. Thanks Rosie.
Mary, so glad you told us at OVRWA about your site. It’s terrific. Hearing your story, feeling your passion, moved me tremendously. Thank you.
I love the people in OVRWA. Last year when I was feeling so sad, you all not only took me under your wing, but you helped open the world of Happy Ever After. Plus, there are so many gifted writers full of intellectual curiosity. I have learned so much. Thanks for the feedback.
Thanks Libby. I’m hoping to get a subscription package as soon as I get the check from working election day.
Mary, Congratulations! This is a spectacular website and the symbolism of the mountains is so fitting in such a myriad of ways! Mary, this is a necessary and important site. It is 2010 and I still have parents coming to talk to my classes and tellign their stories of the fight they must wage to obtain best services for their children. Yes, we have come a long way since ADA and since P.L. 94-142, but we have further to go, ESPECIALLY for adults, as you know 1000% better than I. And, there is always the threat of backsliding once the generation “in charge”, those who fought the original fight, is replaced by those who have taken this for granted.
Keep up the beautiful work and I look forward to keeping up with it! How do I join?
Molly
So good to hear from you Molly. I’m hoping to have the subscription ready in a week or two. First I wanted to see if there was an audience. Do you think this would be useful in your classes?
I can’t find any blogs about issues of adults, if you know of any let me know. Thanks. Mary
Your blog design looks cool. What template did you use ?
Thanks for visiting. Johnny B. Truant set it up. It comes from FreeWordPressThemes4U–Think that is the name. This is step 1, I’m hoping to add more awesomeness as I get some funds. The tech part gives me hives:)
Beautiful, Mary. I’ve always been fascinated in the meanings of names but I never realized what “Aaron” meant. He couldn’t have had a better mother than you.
Becke, you are a pretty terrific mom yourself. Plus, if we didn’t have such interesting lives, we wouldn’t have any material for our stories.