Life after loss with autism, preemies and a rainbow baby
I have been worried about this day for a long time. I have watched the bagger at our local grocery store and complained to the store manager when the cashier barked at him to move faster. I’ve talked to the ticket-taker at our movie theater about her nail polish and waited as she told me […]
I am on her last nerve. Unfazed, I continue my questioning. Mothering a teenager, annoyance is my job. I ask again who this mystery friend is and get a deep sigh because I should know these things, of course. She is in my third hour, we were office assistants together and she is really nice […]
I do not envy celebrities, especially not when they are young. I feel like the old lady sitting in a rocking chair as I shake my head at the ridiculous stories of what these kids have done that pop up daily. The five minutes I manage to watch of Entertainment Tonight always shares a new […]
I should be a pro at this by now, nothing should surprise me. When she was young the reminders poked through our every day… children talking in full sentences, baby book pages I was unable to complete, the furrowed brow of our hundredth specialist. The weight of her diagnosis, the uncertainty of her future, hunched my […]
Ashlyn volunteers at the hospital where my mom works. She is a regular there, her friends generally other volunteers, 60 years or so her senior. If you were to walk into the lunchroom when she is sitting with her fellow volunteers, she would glare at you as most teenagers do when you shout “I love […]
Long before my daughter’s hormones began to change I had thoroughly planted myself in denial. Not only would she begin puberty far, far into the future but before it began, we would have plenty of years of cognitive development thus making it extremely simple to explain the physical changes that would occur and how to […]
I am often told I have my hands full. Persuading two five-year olds to hold hands, balancing a toddler on my hip and nodding to a teenager talking my ear off as I weave through Target can bring out these sort of comments I guess. But they bother me. Maybe because I am already a […]
I hope you don’t mind, I am re-posting a very special interview here today. My daughter, an amazing, beautiful teenager, who just so happens to have autism, shares her thoughts… What does it feel like to have autism? Strange. It feels like you can’t do everything that you want to do because you don’t fit […]
She did it. Years ago I never could have imagined high school. That my daughter would be able to navigate busy hallways, a schedule, the lunch room, and a general education class or two. But today, I watched her get on the bus for the last day of her ninth grade year. She did it. […]
Dear Sissy, All I wanted was a few markers and maybe some Easter candy. But Mommy was one step ahead of me… your door was locked, from the inside. I tried to break in with a hair pin but there are some things that even I can’t do. So instead, I left you a big […]
