My proudest moment~

My proudest moment...WOW that's impossible to pick. There definitely is not just one.

I think if I had too choose, for the sake of argument removing the moments that changed my life. The moments like the birth of my children, marrying my husband or life milestones. I would have to say that probably my proudest moment was succeeding in the fight of having Braden's middle school made accessible for him to attend. 

The battle with the school board was almost a year long. We started asking to prepare for his transfer to middle school half way through grade 5. All his friends were getting ready for their next stage in their school career. It was the next step into highschool. Such an exciting time, but Paul and I knew we needed to get some things in order before he went off to St. Andrews.

We started asking question regarding accessibility and services that could meet his needs. We met with the schools principle the Easter weekend before the following September he was to start. The principle was very friendly and was more than happy to make the correct changes so Braden could attend his school with his friends.

But then the school board realized those changes were going to cost a lot of money. That's when the fight started. It was awful, how do you accept someone telling you that your child isn't worth the money to make renovations to a school. OMG.....I wanted to blow that f**kin school to hell. My brother actually offered to do it...and anyone who knows Shaun knows he wasn't kidding. :)

Anyways to make a long story short, we fought like I've never fought before...and so did the school board. They won, in the end....I was just about ready to give up. So tired, exhausted mentally, emotionally and physically. Not too  mention hiding the whole fight from our children because regardless of the outcome we didn't want Braden to suffer the effects of it. We had to smile, show excitement towards the new school he was heading off too in the fall. Then behind closed doors I was falling to the ground with tears of defeat. I know that might sound dramatic but I swear to god, the pain of knowing your child isn't important enough to the school board was devastating. After all he had been through in his little life, all the fight he had in him to live and survive. Those bastards were taking away the only friendships he had. A group of kids he grew up with, ones who slept over at our house, attended birthday parties and changed the course of gym classes just so Braden could participate. Can you imagine what putting him in an "orthopedic school" was going to do to his social skills not alone his desires to explore and learn. He was ripped from friends he trusted and cared for, kids who encouraged and supported him through physiotherapy and hospital stays.

It was the last stitch effort when we were approached by Paul Gains, a freelance writer here in Cambridge. He approached us, asked if he could do a story about segregation and human rights. We were beside ourselves...it was our only hope.

Paul phoned us one evening giving us a heads up that the school board was going to be notified about the article and to expect a phone call in the next 24 hours. This could go either way, with high hopes we wished it was going to come to a peaceful agreement.

I will never ever forget that moment on the phone when a representative from the school board phoned me and in these exact words said "Mrs. Martz, what is that you want?"...they had just got wind on a Friday morning that the Cambridge Times was going to be featuring a story about Braden being segregated from his home school due to his physical disability.
I replied "I just want my son to go to school with his friends"
She asked "what do we need to do to make that happen?"
**Prayers Answered**
 

That moment for me, was one that made me the most proud.  I felt the most accomplished with a relief that allowed me to breathe again.
I know it wasn't technically Paul and I who "won" this battle. Like I previously stated, I was so tired. I was giving in too them, but still searching for another answer in the mean time.
But during this article process we had to be vulnerable and that was scary. Paul and I were not doing well in our marriage due to the stress of this issue. It literally was ruining me, that was printed. We opened up about our family life, it was personal and it was frightening. We chose to do it, we gave him permission to write about that struggle. Whatever it took to make a statement, to add some depth and reality to our story.

 After the newspaper went out and our story was heard. I had so many other parents come to me and tell me how their schools have made changes to the structure of the building. How they are making it easier for other children in wheelchairs to access the whole school. Naturally, after our story was printed and they made the appropriate adjustments to St. Andrews middle school the school board had another story printed to "make them look like hero's". It was sick, we were interviewed again for their story. We had to express how happy we were with the changes. I refused to show gratitude.

I believe I have already wrote a post on this topic, where I went into more detail about my marriage at the time. My depression was at an all time low, as a mother I was defeated and exhausted. It was a terrible time in my life. I will forever be grateful to the journalist who found us and wanted to print our story. He single-handedly changed the course of our lives forever.
Well my lovelies, until tomorrow good night and god bless~