Last night, I woke up and thought, “Oh no! I was hoping that was real.”

In my dream, it was late at night and I was sleeping in our bed.  Erica and our family friend, Tabitha, were also in our room.  (I’m not sure why that was happening)  They were laughing and having a good time, while I slept. I was waking up and not happy about it.  On our floor was a beanbag where Kennady was.  She was sick at her stomach (a normal issue around our house for her).  Right when Kennady was about to throw up again, she said, “Mama??!!”  Erica went over there quickly and helped her.  We heard her say something but it didn’t really register yet.  I guess I was so sleepy and Erica was preoccupied with Tab.  At this point, I had fully woke up and was going down to help out.  When I would talk to Erica, Kennady would mumble something almost coherent as if responding to us.

I was sitting directly in front of Kennady at this point and I said, “Erica, Kennady understands what we are saying!”  Right when I said that, Kennady looked me in the eye.  Her face squinted as if she was trying really hard and she finally said in a slurred forceful way…”Dada!!”  I grabbed her and held her tight and cried.  The whole room was filled with a different atmosphere.

The most beautiful part of the dream was that Kennady showed she comprehended everything we were saying.  Hearing my 10 year old say my name for the first time was definitely a miracle and something we were excited about.  However, the fact that she responded when I said, “She is talking to us” AND the way she responded with such determination was so sweet.  Confirmation that she understood us was better than her actually talking.

Her ‘look’ this morning

Erica and I have been talking to Kennady for over 10 years and she has never audibly talked back to us.  Two others have confirmed she has talked.  Once my parents took her to Sesame Street Live and Kennady responded when Lolita said, “Hola”.   When we were on our trip this summer, we were hanging out at the Ragsdales’ house. Kennady was watching Dora the Explorer and after Dora said, “Hello Everybody”, Kristin said that Kennady said, “Hi, Dora.”  Erica and I were like “what the heck!”.  Why does she always say things when we aren’t around?

To be understood is such a basic need for humans. What a blessing it is to know that you are being heard.  I guess that is why this dream meant so much to me. I got the feeling that Kennady had been understanding us fully all along and that she was just then getting the ability to orally communicate her comprehension back to us.

Maybe a bigger question for us all today is: who are you ignoring? who are you listening to?  Your response might have a bigger impact than you could ever imagine.