New Title, New Mission!

I have changed my blog’s title and tagline to the following- My Platypus Life: Awe and Angst, Ranting and Rejoicing 

What do you think?  I think it better reflects where I am in my journey now.  My life is very “platypus”, and you all get to share with me as I go through the ups and downs.  I love how diverse and unique my life can be (and also mundane), even if that means that there are challenges.  I am going to try and rejoice more than I rant from now on (though I do not underestimate the therapeutic power of a good rant!).  I truly appreciate the neurodiversity reflected in my house, even though aspects of it are exhausting.  Actually, I have found this whole process fascinating.  I talk about Autism issues and neurodiversity and disabilism a LOT now.  I have been excited by the opportunity to meet and reach out to and even help new people.  I can actually say that I have been blessed by this experience.  I cry a LOT, but I have still been blessed.  One potential danger is that since I am not ashamed, and talk freely about the subject, people may not see my children for who they really are beyond the labels and struggles.  I have two beautiful and smart and sweet and happy and unique boys. 

The Platypus: Who Are you?

 

Time for more about the creature for which this blog is named:  the duckbill platypus.  The platypus is one of only a handful of egg laying mammals, meaning that it gives milk but also lays eggs…what a rebel!  It also has other reptilian characteristics, like the production of venom;  the males have a venomous spur on their hind legs that they use to defend themselves.   This creature is so unusual that when it was first brought to Europe by trappers it was considered a fraud. 

My favorite animal…

Is NOT the Goldfinch!  While I love that cheery little bird, with the bright yellow feathers and sweet song, the platypus has always held the #1 place in my heart.  Why?

The platypus is an animal that upon first glance looks like it doesn’t make sense.  It has the fur and tail of a beaver, feet like an otter, and a duck’s bill.  -Whew!-  What an eclectic creature!  And yet within that strange compilation lies an intricate master plan.   God gave her all the tools she needed for the life she would live.

I could probably say I am an unusual person.   People quite often don’t know what to make of me.  My Dad calls it “Not boring”.  And so sometimes I feel like I just don’t fit.  What to do with my webbed feet and duck bill?  And then I look at the platypus and I smile.  God has a plan.

 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”   Jeremiah 29:11