{"id":16503,"date":"2020-03-01T08:59:26","date_gmt":"2020-03-01T13:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sasee.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=16503"},"modified":"2024-03-26T15:08:44","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T19:08:44","slug":"a-typical-mom-with-a-not-so-typical-life-summer-karst","status":"publish","type":"essay","link":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/essay\/a-typical-mom-with-a-not-so-typical-life-summer-karst\/","title":{"rendered":"A Typical Mom \u2013 With a Not So Typical Life: Summer Karst"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSomehow, it happens,\u201d laughed Summer Karst when I asked her how she manages to do everything packed into her busy life. Summer is the co-owner of Random, a clothing boutique in Market Common, the mother of two girls, Vivi, 8, and Isla, 10, and is married to Timothy a history teacher and football coach at Carolina Forest High School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sounds fairy typical, but Isla was born with special needs. Diagnosed with PCH2 and epilepsy, she is in a wheelchair, has daily seizures and requires extensive daily care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTwo weeks ago, my week started with an MUSC hospital stay with Isla, and ended with Isla, my mom and I in Atlanta on a buying trip for Random,\u201d Summer told me as we chatted about her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t know anything was wrong until after Isla was born,\u201d Summer began, explaining PCH2 as a rare genetic disorder that affects the brain. The defect required Isla to undergo major surgery at only a year old, and since then she\u2019s had full spinal fusion to fix scoliosis and kyphosis. Isla also has epilepsy that can\u2019t be controlled with medication.There is no \u201ctypical\u201d day in Summer\u2019s life. Isla and Vivi both attend Carolina Forest Elementary School, but Summer may be called away from her boutique at any time. \u201cA lot of times schedules don\u2019t work out,\u201d this busy mom said with a laugh. \u201cI don\u2019t have it all together, and sometimes you can find the kids at the boutique working with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI fail a lot,\u201d Summer said, but anyone who knows her would disagree \u2013 as does Summer\u2019s sister-in-law, Myndi Hillman, who recently wrote a tribute on Facebook, saying Summer, \u201cdoesn\u2019t complain that life doesn\u2019t always go her way\u2026Just when she thinks the day before her will allow some down time it\u2019s off to work to cover for an employee, or to school to pick up a sick child, or a child who\u2019s had seizures. Some days it\u2019s off to the hospital, for maybe a few hours or days. She would never in a million years say, \u2018Why me God?\u2019 only \u2018Thank you Lord for my incredible imperfect, perfect life!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cShe\u2019s the funniest kid, we adore her,\u201d Summer said when I asked about Isla\u2019s personality. Isla can communicate with a high tech device that uses lasers to monitor her eye movements, but even without it Isla can make her wishes known \u2013 as she did on a recent visit to her pediatrician, when she responded with a loud \u201charrumph,\u201d when the nurse asked her how she was doing \u2013 Isla did not want to be in the doctor\u2019s office!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isla and her sister Vivi are very close \u2013 Summer told me Isla is the typical big sister and thinks it\u2019s hilarious when Vivi gets in trouble. Vivi, a protective little sister, can\u2019t wait to bring her friends to meet Isla at school. The girls are very typical in many ways \u2013 Isla loves lights, and her room is filled with Christmas lights and a disco ball. She also loves blankets and has a huge collection. \u201cIsla can be a stinker,\u201d Summer laughed. \u201cShe\u2019s been known to fake a seizure to get out of doing her schoolwork.\u201d Vivi loves unicorns, barbies, dinosaurs, dragons and her three legged cat named Milton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom day one, we knew life would be different for us,\u201d Summer told me thoughtfully. \u201cWe decided not to let Isla\u2019s disability disable our family.\u201d Because she owns a family business, Summer was able to step back for the first few years of Isla\u2019s life. \u201cI have been blessed by the support of the community and our customers. And I could not do it without our wonderful staff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because their lives are so busy, Summer and Tim are careful to carve out the occasional dinner out or just a quiet hour at home to talk. \u201cParents of special needs children have high divorce rates, not surprisingly, so it\u2019s important for us to schedule time to connect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying it wasn\u2019t hard at first, but we are so grateful for the life we have \u2013 Isla has changed so many lives for the better.\u201d For Summer, a big part of this journey is helping others. \u201cTim and I are always open to any questions about our life. If anyone needs to reach out, we would love to help in any way we can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stop by Random Boutique and meet Summer \u2013 and maybe Isla! Random is located at 3315 Reed Street in Market Common or contact her on Instagram or Facebook, @randomboutiques.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSomehow, it happens,\u201d laughed Summer Karst when I asked her how she manages to do everything packed into her busy life. Summer is the co-owner of Random, a clothing boutique […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16507,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_gspb_post_css":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"essay_type":[50],"essay-category":[],"class_list":["post-16503","essay","type-essay","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","essay_type-meet-your-neighbors"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay\/16503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/essay"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay\/16503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"essay_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay_type?post=16503"},{"taxonomy":"essay-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay-category?post=16503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}