Prior to entering the corporate world, Laura was the sole proprietor of LAKEnterprises her private parent company. In November 2011, Special Moments, a nonprofit organization for children, was formed. Inspired by her passions, Laura decided to form an organization that would include all three. Being a true entrepreneur at heart, three years later she shifted gears and expanded her focus to include her true passions in life: travel, event planning and children. Cook is the Founder and current CEO of Special Moments.Īfter working in management for 17 years for a Fortune 500 Transportation Company - UPS, she decided to take time off and focus her energy on raising her two young boys. Perhaps… just perhaps… I am one of the Chosen.Laura A. But it was only I who could nurture and thrive together with the children I was given. There may be a forest of great trees surrounding me. But there, at Kever Rochel, after two days of imbibing the message that a special-needs mom deserves so much, I felt a knot within me - one I hadn’t even been aware of - dissolve. Her story still resonates, still reverberates in the Heavenly court, and its echoes will continue until they encircle and bring us all back here, home to her. And her story in This World didn’t have a happy ending.Īh, but The Next World. One who suffered and yearned, one who gave of herself for others. I stood there in front of the velvet draping that covered Rochel’s tomb. So why did I feel unworthy compared to all the women there? No one could possibly know what I went through on an average day, the frayed nerves, how the simplest tasks became so complicated when factoring in a set of circumstances that were anything but simple. I’d long ago decided that no one else understood my situation. I wasn’t reaching out to be inspired, to bond with others. I thought I’d made peace with my situation years ago. I walked into Kever Rochel with my emotions roiling.
The organizers gently handed each woman a leather-bound Tehillim, just one more small gesture after two days that were an endless gift. The last stop on our itinerary was Kever Rochel. My thoughts kept circling, leaving me no rest despite the relaxing atmosphere. Beneath the surface of my daily life, were there hints of great strengths within me? Had I demonstrated to Hashem that yes, I was capable of caring for two of His purest souls? My selection as this Mommy couldn’t have been arbitrary. There seemed to be a message there for me, too. The glint of the sun reflecting the water, the layers of salt that lined the beaches. The Dead Sea spread out around me, dazzling, dizzying, and paradoxically, so alive. I wandered back to my room and sat by the window staring at the incredible view. I didn’t deserve any accolades of bravery. When I was a teen, all my friends were signing up to be counselors of kids with special needs, and I was running in the other direction. I never willingly agreed to jump into this maelstrom. Brave is when you decide to do something that’s scary. I remember how after one particularly grueling day, my daughter told me that I was so brave. Loads of effort to maintain my equilibrium. Pulled together from across Eretz Yisrael for Chaim V’Chessed’s first-ever retreat for moms of kids with special needs, as the program progressed, it was clear that most were dealing with situations that defy comprehension.Īnd I? I squirmed in my seat. They seemed to be incredible, put-together, fun, excited, intuitive souls. I couldn’t describe the hundred women gathered there as losers. If anything, what kind of loser was I to get waylaid twice? In my case, twice, one kid after the next. “The doctor said to us, ‘Picture yourself in a forest with thousands of trees. The speaker was describing her initial exposure to her son’s diagnosis.
So why was I sitting here in a room full of women, all mothers of kids with special needs, all of whom were probably way more deserving than I? As in: Why me? As the mother of two kids with special needs, my question isn’t, “Why did You do this, Hashem?” It’s, “Why did You pick me?” Seriously? Do You have that amount of confidence in me that I can do this? And if so, maybe I can harness some of that confidence for myself? Because I think this decision may have been a mistake. Sometimes I, too, have a random question. As in, “Totally random question, Ma, but why aren’t we going on vacation this year?” def: made, done, happening, or chosen without method or conscious decision.ĪS the mother of teens, that word has entered my lexicon in the most, well… random of ways.