Story by Erin Witkowski
I have wanted to share this for so long.
A little over ten years ago…at 21 weeks pregnant I was called into the Dr’s office at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Warwick NY. Being a Catholic Hospital the Dr.’s office was also the old priests office.
This day changed my life forever. I remember the large wooden desk the Dr. sat at and the Stained Glass that towered behind him. It was a cloudy day but the soft light danced through the windows and into my eyes. Grady’s tiny feet where kicking my belly as my husband grabbed my hand so we could sit down.
His first words after we sat down… “I’m sorry your son has down syndrome, you have two weeks to make a decision….”
The only decision we made was to NEVER go back to that Dr’s office or deliver there. I have relived those words and that moment over and over again in my mind, they burned deep into my motherly soul.
It was THAT very moment my son was named a “decision” and “broken” to the world was also the same day we named him a gift from God.
Today is Grady’s Tenth Birthday… to celebrate this milestone of Joy I photographed him next to stained glass to bring full circle our story… and to EVERY MARKER that they see on an ultrasound or (after a child is born) that points to Down Syndrome or what the world calls Broken, we filled in with Gold. “Golden Joinery” like the ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi…. an art that celebrates brokenn artifacts by filling the cracks with Gold to bring it to new life….
“Kintsugi often makes the repaired piece even more beautiful than the original”
Oh my Grady NO prenatal test could predict that you are filled with a heart of GOLD, you are JOY and LOVE rolled into the most perfect child. Your challenges never ever outweigh your joy.
You were sent here to help other’s fill in their broken pieces with drops of your gold made by the Creator himself.
I love you my boy. Happy 10th Birthday.
Love your mom,
Erin
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