Most of you are aware that both of my kids are adopted and that each of those children had their own challenges. My boy came to us at about two weeks old addicted to drugs thanks to his birth mother. He has had some issues (mostly physical) but he has overcome those and is now an accomplished athlete with an incredible intellect. My daughter, on the other hand, suffered for over four years at the hands of her biological family and was as close to a feral child as I had ever seen when she came to us at about 52 months. She has sustained major psychological trauma that was finally correctly diagnosed as PTSD about a year and a half ago. Since that time her treatment has made much progress, but she still has a long way to go.
Anyway, we took a cruise over the Thanksgiving holiday and one of the excursions we took was a private island swim with rescue dolphins. The effect these creatures had on her in the short 1/2 hour we were in the water with them is astounding. That is not to say that everything was perfect since then as the overstimulazation of the cruise and the dolphins caused some issue later that night, but... that right there is an honest to goodness REAL smile. Those are few and far between...
Anyway, we took a cruise over the Thanksgiving holiday and one of the excursions we took was a private island swim with rescue dolphins. The effect these creatures had on her in the short 1/2 hour we were in the water with them is astounding. That is not to say that everything was perfect since then as the overstimulazation of the cruise and the dolphins caused some issue later that night, but... that right there is an honest to goodness REAL smile. Those are few and far between...
