A New Friend

When I started this blog it was little more than an online journal in which I could share stories of the boys with people I didn’t see often. As I started writing more and reading more about blogs, I had an idea while trying to find a brand for my blog— something to make it stand out and give it a more single purpose. I could help two very specific types of people: stay-at-home moms or dads with epilepsy, and people who have families in small spaces.

While I still do plenty of simply telling silly stories, I’m also glad to know that I’ve helped people. A couple months ago a woman called me after having found my blog in an online search for stay-at-home moms with epilepsy. She recently started having more and more seizures and she and her husband had come to the realization, just like Brian and I eventually did— that it isn’t safe for her to drive, even if she legally is cleared by the DMV. They, however, don’t live in a walkable location, and amazingly, they live only about an hour from us. So they’re in the process of relocating to a place where the quality of her life and the lives of her daughters will not be diminished by her inability to drive.

We met this Saturday and Brian and I tried to sell her and her husband on Reston. We went to a Reston playground, ate at a Reston restaurant, and treated them to a tour of a fine Reston condo, tastefully adapted for a family of four (ha!). I was happy to know that they had read about some of my suggestions and even bought the same phone that we bought, in order to prepare their daughters for a seizure emergency.

The whole experience has been so cool. I’ve only met three other people with epilepsy, and never another stay-at-home mom. Writing about my experiences and tossing my scribblings out to whomever may stumble upon them online, has helped at least one person in my shoes, and that’s a cool feeling. I'm so thankful that she contacted me. Sometimes I’m not sure anyone is listening, but this kind of response is rewarding. I hope there are even more people I've helped.

And I also got a new friend. A new Reston friend…?