Lesson 14: Planting Seeds of Resilience: What Charli Taught Me About Showing Up Through Hard Things

There’s a quote that has become something of a mantra in our home, courtesy of one of Charli’s therapists, Peter Walker: “Small steps every day lead to great growth over time.” It’s written on a sticky note above my desk, a reminder on the days when progress feels invisible, when the weight of medical appointments and therapy schedules and sleepless nights threatens to crush the hope I’m trying so hard to cultivate.

But here’s what I’ve learned in these two years of parenting Charli, through her NICU days, through therapy cancellations that felt like setbacks, through the particular kind of exhaustion that comes with medical complexity: resilience isn’t something we’re born with. It’s something we plant, seed by seed, day by day, through the simple but profound act of showing up.