Raising Quinn

Related: VCFS, Parents, School

by Sally Quinn
Friday, October 31, 2008

This has not been an easy road for any of us. There were times when I would lie in bed for days, so depressed I couldn't get up. Times I felt like I wanted to die when I saw him suffering. Times when I didn't see how we were going to make it through. Times when I didn't know what was to become of him. And both of us were constantly worried about what would happen to him if anything happened to us. But always there was love and always there was support and encouragement. The word "stupid" was never allowed in our house. Over time, and in Quinn's book "A Different Life: Growing up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures," which will be out in April, you learn details of our lives and how difficult some of those times have been. But you will also see that unconditional love, a belief in your child, optimism and most of all, a sense of humor are what is needed and what will ultimately work. Is his life, are our lives perfect and fine now? Of course not. Every day is a challenge. Quinn even came up with an idea for the web site of having kids write about their "screwups of the day." And the other day when he got completely lost going to his gym for the hundredth time and got really depressed, he suddenly brightened and said, this is material. It will be a great story for the web site. That's what we hope it will be for you and your children as well. A way of seeing that you are not the only ones out there. And that there is hope. We are so proud of Quinn for writing his book and for conceiving the idea of this web site. We are so happy that he wants to spend his life helping others who are going through what he is going through. And most of all, we are so relieved. Because now we see that if the worst happened and something happened to us, we believe that he can have a rich and successful, happy and productive life. Even if it is different.