So today an e-mail from Amazon came across my inbox. It was an e-mail asking me to rate a recent purchase I made... I was about to delete it, as thinking about why I ordered this particular gift for someone brought on negative vibes that I have been trying to put in the past... But as I was about to hit "delete" I could hear that marvelously michevious grinchy-grinch humor rumbling from that sweet spot of sarcasm that often saves my sanity.
So I rated the item. My reply too long to share there, so I shall share it here....
I gave it five stars.
I ordered this particular item in response to a twenty-something year old who in all his wisdom of those twenty-something sheltered years, thought he was justified in sending me an e-mail outlining how "no one likes me" and "nice power move" in response to me challenging a family member on blatant lies spoken against me. Mind you the e-mail he was replying to was not addressed to him, but the master manipulative party it was addressed to, saw fit to send it to everyone for the purpose of getting people to "no one likes me".
I choose to polish the mental toughness I must have to survive vaccine injury and all the horrific seizures that come with that, -- by humor.
I was going to buy this "gift" for that particular person who I would have thought knew better than to do that to us, Todd and I, who have done nothing but love and support him... Who we have included in family gatherings as if he were our own son. Who we have shared our precious time with Matt with so that all could be with him --when all we wanted was to have our son all to ourselves. So much for thinking of others. What is that saying? "No good deed goes unpunished?" But I digress.... What an "power move" that was in loving and including someone who would turn on us for a baseless reason, a reason not his own, but of what others shared with him about us.
His words "nice power move" stuck in my head and made me think of Power Rangers. So I went to Amazon in search of a "Power Ranger" to send to him for Christmas as a reminder of me and my many "power moves". To give him one final "Power Move" because after all, if I'm going to be accused of these "power moves" then I might as well do one to deserve the accusation! I even had a great caption for the gift tag, "Because I'm all about those Power Moves." Yellow isn't really my color, but sometimes you have to go with what you've got, and it was either yellow or pink, and I do not do pink. Shudder.
But, I'm not going to send it to him.
I think the realization one day of what he's done will be enough. And even if he never realizes that and continues to ignore us for no reason, that is on him. Not us. This "Power Ranger" sitting on my desk has been great therapy in teaching me that. Not a bad lesson for $18 and free prime two-day shipping.
Instead my "power move" will be to pray for him.
Pray that he never has to understand what it is to truly be ignored. In having a son who was maimed by vaccines and who has been ignored by society, by doctors, by our government. For us to have lived that for so very many isolated years - to have had so many needs ignored by insurance, by state services, for some by their very church - and then to have someone "ignore" us further?
It's hard to even be mad at someone who is that shallow.
I think the best test of your sanity is when you can look at an insane situation and laugh. Truly realize it's not you, it's them. When you can look at a situation and know that it's not about who is right or wrong, it is about what is best for you and your sanity. And for us, and our sanity, it is best for us to move on believing in what Maya Angelou says, "When people show you who they really are, believe them."
Love them...
Forgive them...
But believe them...
It took a long time and many repeated hurts and manipulations to believe that in those who are supposed to be closest to us. I believe we are better than that and that we have so many around us who love us and believe in us and who would be there for us through calm or conflict. Those are the people who we choose to invest in.
I watched a movie recently that had a very profound line in it. "You know you are over being hurt when you have an opportunity for revenge and do not take it."
This Power Ranger figurine was my opportunity for revenge. I had it all wrapped and ready to mail...
But I didn't.
It sits on my desk as a reminder of my true "power moves" that he nor those who have manipulated him against us will ever be able to fathom.
The power moves of forgiveness. Of truth. Of understanding conflict and how to deal with it and work through it. Of loyalty. Of love. Of what a true family is and how a real family should treat each other. I don't say it often enough, but it is my husband and his parents who have taught me that. There has been conflict but there has always been love and working through it.
Especially as a warrior mom, the power moves of enduring the unendurable. Of having no choice but to bear the unbearable. Oh how I wish I could quit on my son like they have quit on us! But because my son cannot quit his autism and the life it forces him to live, we cannot and will not ever quit on him. There are way too many out there who do not comprehend that in any way, shape, or form and that is the greatest tragedy of all. To not truly know what unselfish love is. To not truly understand what it means to not quit, but to stay, stand firm, and fight for what you love, for what you believe in. It is so easy to quit and walk away and that is what he has done. It is he who that "power move" will bite in the ass one day down the line. Team Guppy has learned the hard way that life is measured by how you act and what you do during the not-so-easy times. When those around us have long since gone, here we will remain, marching on.
Our "power moves" are measured by the words HOPEISM, Not Dead Can't Quit, Be Brave, and Never Quit!
Our power moves are in how we pursue truth and have pursued a relationship despite all the roadblocks.
But I've come to realize that our greatest power move is in moving on.
In not letting that which we can't control, --influence us, consume us, change us, or define us.
In not continuing to expose ourselves to the bullets that continue to pierce.
So yes, Amazon review folks, I give this "Power Ranger" 5 stars and 2 Guppy fins way up.
I would highly recommend it to anyone who needs healing in the face of false persecution.
It will sit on my desk as a reminder to make each day a positive power move in being thankful for those in your life who love you so much they would pursue you from hell to HOPEISM and back again!
#HOOYAH
