Noah has a lot of shoes. A collection since he was born. The cleanest
shoes you've ever seen, they look like they've never been worn. Only
two pairs have ever touched the ground. Yet I have them all, and they
each have their own story of how they came to be.
His Robeez shoes because he screamed with any other shoe due to sensory issues.
His
Sketchers because they light up when you walk and I thought that Noah
would learn to take his first steps if I was just patient enough.
His cheap Payless Disney Planes shoes because they were easy to get on and had good quick velcro
His
Piedro Shoes that I paid gobs of money for and had shipped from Canada
because I thought they'd help his legs and feet become steady.
His Sure Steps because I was convinced if we mounted them to the Taos orthotic device he'd learn to walk.
His Hanna Anderson slippers because I thought he'd appreciate warm feet.
His Jack and Jill Boots because I hoped he'd tolerate boots to be outdoors in the snow.
His Carter high tops that we mounted wood to the soles so that he'd feel the wait of his feet while trying to walk at therapy.
I held so many dreams and wishes in all those shoes.
Noah
recently acquired my most favorite pair of shoes. They didn't come for
a specific purpose. They came simply as a gift love. Peach's Neet
Feet designed a very extra special pair of Miracle Shoes for
Noah. A non-profit organization dedicating their talent and time to providing selfless acts of giving. They use art to create custom,
hand-painted shoes to celebrate children who are fighting
cancer and living with disabilities.
These shoes meant the most
when they arrived because they were simply designed to celebrate Noah.
Shoes that capture and represent his spirit. There is a quote that
another special needs parent passed onto me years ago when Noah was very
little "If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong
shoes." It was one of those say it to yourself over and over again
thoughts until I fully understood the true meaning of what that parent
was trying to tell me. The path of a special needs parent isn't an easy
one. It is the hardest level of parenting one could ever imagine. But
the significance of that quote is that we were given all the tools we
need to walk this path. We were handed those strong shoes to walk this
strong, complicated, challenging, painful yet incredibly rewarding
path.
And Noah's Miracle shoes are a beautiful reminder of how
strong he is, how strong we all are as a family. And they happen to be
super adorable and were made with such love.
"Kindness is so small, but so big in the lives of others. It's not what you see, but how you see it." Madison Steiner (Founder of Peach's Neet Feet)
Love,
Noah's Miracle by Stacy Warden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.