Newsroom Archives: A Mother’s Story by Charlotte Benson

A year ago, Lance Thompson, our good friend and avid runner, came to us with an idea to organize a 100-mile overnight relay run to raise money for the foundation. Admittedly, I’m not a runner, and my first reaction was, “Who in the world is going to want to do that?!!” But as the idea evolved, and he shared his vision of a race whose course would meander under the starlit sky of the Texas countryside and culminate at a stunning destination at sunrise, I began to understand. Now, less than two weeks away, that vision will become a reality on May 14 when 30 teams of eight people each will compete by running a rugged Hill Country 96-mile course starting at Mount Bonnell and ending in the dawn light at Enchanted Rock. Members of each team will follow the route together in a van to support their runner and cheer him on as he steps onto the course alone to face his own unique challenge in the dark. Lance wanted the participants to experience first-hand the physical darkness and challenges that a child who is blinded by Batten Disease faces. It has been transformative to watch Lance’s ambitious dream become a reality and I am struck by how incredibly this race also mirrors our own life, and so perfectly mimics the mission of the Beyond Batten Disease Foundation. I love the way God inspires us only later to reveal His full intention.

Some things our children say are indelibly etched in our memories, word for word. They make us laugh, their naive wisdom stops us dead in our tracks, or they reflect some unattractive part of ourselves we never knew they saw. For me, as I wrote about in the previous issue of this newsletter, it was Christiane’s answer when asked what made her special. She said simply “I get to learn how to read Braille, and one day I’ll get to have a Seeing Eye dog.” Not HAVE to, but GET to! I have thought of those words a thousand times, but mostly I have absorbed the concept of “have to” vs. “get to.” It has given me a fresh perspective on parenting and a summer spent every day with my children has given me the opportunity to adopt her philosophy. So swimming with the children has transformed from I’ll HAVE to wash the chlorine out of my hair, to I GET to dive to the bottom of the pool and see their faces close up when they pop up breathlessly. And, cooking has transformed from I’ll HAVE to pick egg shells out of the scorched scrambled eggs to I GET to feel her excitement and enthusiasm for success. Disciplining has morphed from I’ll HAVE to hear her whine and complain about an extra chore to I GET to see her mature as I watch her figure out how to unload the dishwasher unassisted. What a lesson she has taught me and I absolutely relish in the gift of “GETTING TO” experience my children in a way I never have before. It’s like taking a walk and slowly inhaling every fragrant flower, stopping to watch where the butterfly lands, and feeling the sun on your shoulders and breeze in your face. There is a consciousness in parenting that is often not intuitive, but so rewarding if we take the time.

A Mother’s Story, by Charlotte Benson

As Christiane and I sat doing her homework one afternoon, hopelessness mounted inside of me as her strong will, independence and defiance reduced me to complete frustration. While fully rejecting my input on a first time attempt, she proclaimed “I already know how to do this, Mom. I’m going to do it like I like to do it.” I retreated to my room in defeat and I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to cope with her strong character. Only a few days later, I found myself praising God for her strength.

That weekend, Christiane was a first grade princess presented in the Helping Hands luncheon, a fundraiser for a children’s foster home in Austin. While each girl was presented on a stage, a bio was read of questions they had answered in their own words. I watched Christiane walk to the center of the stage in her organza white dress and rhinestone tiara, and was moved to hear her answers booming across the loud speaker.

She was asked, if you could invite any famous person to your birthday party, who would it be? She answered, “Monet, the famous artist, because he had low vision too.”

A Mother’s Story, by Charlotte Benson

As I stared out of the window on my flight from Baton Rouge to Austin, I prayed for my family and our future, and for Christiane’s healing.  I watched rays of sunlight angle down from above dashing horizontal shelves of clouds and refracting the light into a cascading effect.  Waterfalls, I thought.  God has created waterfalls of light in the clouds and I wondered why.

When I finished praying, I pulled the blind down and turned to Craig sitting next to me in the middle seat.  He had just finished reading the last pages of a book called The Shack.  I asked him if he liked it, and what was his favorite part.  He thumbed through the pages, said that it was all good, and that he wouldn’t know where to start.  Then he turned to a chapter in the book and handed it to me to read.