COURTESY OF ANDI SLIGH
Voices
My daughter isn’t a star athlete,
but she does participate in sports
— softball and swim team — and
I’ve seen firsthand the impact she
has on others simply by showing up. My son spreads joy and
sunshine everywhere he goes.
They know him by name and give
him free baked goods at our local supermarket. It’s amazing to
me how often I hear other people
exclaim, “I love that little guy!”
When I became a mom, I
thought my job was to mold and
shape my children into their
best selves. To my surprise,
my children have molded and
shaped me. I no longer am afraid
to speak up in defense of others,
ANDI
SLIGH
HUFFINGTON
11.03.13
The diagnosis was
a blow, and as much as I
love being her mom, in the
beginning I felt cheated.”
and my lifelong struggle with
perfectionism is (mostly) a thing
of the past. I value virtues like
compassion and patience more
than success and achievement.
My children’s disabilities challenged my thinking and reordered my values.
Simply put, my children molded and shaped me into a better
— more perfectly human
— version of myself.
Andi Sligh is the author of
There’s Sunshine Behind the Clouds:
Surviving the Early Years.
Andi Sligh
with her
children,
Sarah Kate
and Nathan.