Every year I share this memory from 2015. Every year I get this bitter sweet knot in my stomach as I watch this memory. I watch how connected she is in it. I watch how the few words you can understand come freely out of her. A memory that will forever make me smile and shed a tear whenever I watch it.

For those who are new to following my journey, this moment is so bitter sweet because this is before Courtney regressed. Before we “lost” who we thought our little girl was going to become. Before autism became our reality.

The bitter sweetness hurts less every year when this comes up. This year it gave me such a smile because just a week ago, we caught another signing video. A video that shows how far our little girl has come thanks to her huge village that has worked endless hours with her. A new moment that I will also hold very dear to my heart.

I’m sharing both videos with you. The one of Courtney singing “let it go” from the top of her lungs 5 years ago. The other one is Courtney during a session with one of her ABA therapists. This therapist comes to our house a couple hours twice a week. She loved singing songs with Courtney and will sing the same ones over and over so we are starting to see Courtney actually try to sing along.

Hope these videos bring as much joy to you as they do to us.

(Note…I was given permission from her therapist to share this. Also, I do not own the rights to either of these songs but I think Courtney should 😉)