I remember learning how to tie my shoes when I was in kindergarten. It was something I practiced a bit at home, but I also remember kneeling on the classroom floor with one foot out in front of me as we practiced the steps together. Make a loop. Another loop. The bunny ears go around.
At the time, it felt complicated. Now I never think of it. I don’t think about the memory, and I definitely don’t think about the steps. It has simply become instinctive.
But at any age, there are things that stretch us with new learning and take us to an ability we did not have before. Those moments are milestones. They are reasons to celebrate.
I am much older than my kindergarten self now. I have lived that amount of life many times over. And yet there are still experiences that stretch me in ways I didn’t expect.
This past year, I had the opportunity to work on a dream project in my role at the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan. We received a grant that allowed us to create in-person support groups in Southeast Michigan, with transportation support to help people get to one another.
That alone was a milestone.
We called this project Synergy Support Circles. The Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan serves a large population, and many of the people we support do not drive. People living with epilepsy often experience significant isolation. Creating a way for people to physically gather together mattered a great deal.
We offered funding for transportation support. We provided shared meals. We trained peer leaders. We supported them as they came up with the most creative ideas to provide connection. (They came up with ideas we would have never thought about!) We launched eight groups, and friendships formed.
We heard wonderful stories from participants, and we also saw impact in the data.
When I looked at our pre-surveys and post-surveys, I was honestly a little stunned. Participants were asked, “How would you rate your emotional well-being in relation to your epilepsy?”
In the pre-survey, no one selected “Excellent.” Not a single person.
But in the post-survey, 37.5% did.
When my colleagues and I were designing the program, we often joked that it felt like building an airplane while it was already taking off. Everything about it was new for our organization. Sure, it’s just people getting together. But when you serve a large geographical area among many who do not drive — and people who should have never known isolation to the degree that they have — this was a big undertaking. We were figuring things out as we went.
And it had a remarkable impact.
This stretched me in the best possible ways, and I feel grateful.
I was diagnosed with epilepsy when I was a kindergartner — back in those same years when I was learning how to tie my shoes. My seizures eventually resolved around age twelve, but my epilepsy experience has always been an important part of my story.
And I hope my 6-year-old self would be pleased with this outcome, even if she knows much more about rabbit ear shoelaces than data.
—Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 