A Time of Transition: Seeking Legal Guardianship
Edith
Last Saturday my daughter and I committed to tackling the brown spill of oak leaves covering our backyard. We gathered our equipment: gloves, rake, leaf bags, and our lawn sweeper and started working. While she maneuvered the sweeper and opened the leaf bags, I raked leaves into piles and stuffed the bags. We made quick work of the leaf layers and went inside satisfied with our effort.
The very next morning, we woke to visions of a snow-covered scape. Our northern IL city was blanketed in a white flurry of snow complete with plummeting temperatures and a wind chill. The overnight transformation was stark and somehow unsettling. This sharp seasonal metamorphosis reminded me of the transition my daughter would soon be undergoing. You see, she turns eighteen next month and legally, goes from being a minor one day to an adult the next.
It was only last year that genetic testing confirmed my daughter’s Myhre syndrome diagnosis. Armed with the diagnosis, numerous subsequent doctor appointments and medical tests, hours of research, and some soul searching, my spouse and I decided to pursue legal guardianship. My daughter’s intellectual, emotional, and medical challenges make this the best decision for her. We know this deep in our hearts, but we can’t help but to pause and ponder what the future holds for our daughter and our family. So many unknowns; just like Myhre syndrome.
By the time the snow melts this spring and we see traces of the leftover leaves, my husband and I will have transitioned from simply being parents to also serving as our daughter’s legal guardians. We will have reached the next stage of our Myhre-induced metamorphosis.
-Margo Veitch (mother of Edith)