While it is well known that parents teach their children invaluable lessons, it is often overlooked how much children can teach their parents. Amy Aldrich of Portage, a mother of three daughters, knows firsthand how parenthood can transform how you look at the world.
Mackenzie Aldrich, Amy’s oldest daughter, has taught Amy a whole new side of life. Having been diagnosed as medically handicapped and having autism, Mackenzie shows her mother and the world that anything is possible.
“She really changed the way I saw the world and people and struggles,” Amy said. “Having never being affected by anything like that in my life and being someone that things always came easy to, I never thought that, when you see people with special needs, that it would hit so close to home and happen to my own family.”
Transitioning to life with a child with autism presented its own struggles for Amy, but the love she felt for Mackenzie helped Amy keep a positive outlook on life.
“At first, it was hard, and at different milestones, it did still affect me and make me sad,” Amy said. “When her peers were being able to be dropped off to the movies alone, or getting their driver’s licenses, or different things like that, there’s that little piece of you that is kind of sad and thinks, ‘Wow, our life could be so different.’ At the same time, I am so grateful for how our life is. I can’t imagine her being any different.”
Mackenzie is the oldest of Amy’s three daughters. Her younger siblings, Madeline and Macintyre, have followed Amy’s example of seeing the beauty in their lives.
“I’ve always thought that Mackenzie has influenced Madeline and Macintyre as people,” Amy said.
Madeline was the first runner-up in Distinguished Young Women of Portage, a national scholarship program that promotes leadership in young women. As Amy cheered for Madeline in the competition, she was shocked when Madeline publicly spoke about her experience being Mackenzie’s sister.
“She got to pick a question out of the bowl that asked, ‘What is something about me that most people don’t know?’ and I thought Madeline has a 4.3 GPA and she was so talented in so many other things,” Amy said. “Yet, she talked about her sister and how it taught her patience and understanding and helped her become the good person that she is. I definitely think that it has impacted her. She went on to write an essay for ‘Sydney Has a Sister’ and she won a national scholarship for something she wrote about Mackenzie.”
As Mackenzie grew alongside her sisters, it was clear to everyone just how special the Aldrich family was. Celebrating each other’s victories as a family and sticking together when times got tough, the Aldriches demonstrated how having a strong support system at home can make all the difference. Amy says she could not have raised such wonderful girls without her loving husband of 25 years, Tom Aldrich.
“We are a team, and he has been so helpful,” Amy said of Tom. “He’s always been right by my side. I couldn’t do it without him.”
Amy was floored by the support she has received from the Portage community. Mackenzie’s time at Portage High School, including Mackenzie becoming elected the Homecoming Queen, offered encouragement, friendship, and support to the Aldrich family.
“We were so blessed by Mackenzie’s peers at Portage High School specifically,” Amy said. “To this day, there are so many great kids that call us and want to take her to the movies, get her nails done, or go out to eat. So many times, these days, you hear about the negative of kids that are out there. I think that not only have they helped Mackenzie, but Mackenzie has helped them and taught them, too. They love how honest she is, how sweet she is, and how funny she is. Anyone I know that is around her cannot stop smiling.”
Today, Mackenzie continues to shine her light on the Portage community with the support of her parents and younger sisters.
“She’s very social and very creative,” Amy said. “She makes everyone collages. She memorizes everybody’s birthdays. She greets the mailman every day with a collage, she gives the police collages, and she takes collages to the nursing home. She’s super friendly and sweet. When Mackenzie was originally diagnosed as being medically handicapped along with a communication disorder and being autistic, they basically said it’s going to be hard for you to keep her in the home as she gets older. My husband Tom and I really focused on her strengths and encouraged her and pushed her and she has just gone way beyond where she originally thought she would be.”
For parents facing similar challenges, Amy offers advice.
“Definitely stay positive,” Amy said. “Look at your child for who they are and try not to listen to all the possibilities of negative stuff that can happen. Just push and take each day at time and look for the little positives. That helped me knowing just to celebrate the little victories along the way and to never give up. Tom began teaching Mackenzie to ride a bike when she was just 2 or 3. He tried for years and years. When she was 20 years old, all of a sudden, she just got on a bike and started doing it. That type of thing has taught me that there is no end to the possibilities of what can happen. She’s still learning and still growing, and so are we through it all.”
With positive attitudes, loving hearts, and open minds, the Aldriches of Portage are a pure example of what it means to be a family.