I’m having a particularly difficult week, and decided to share a blog post from my archive. I promise I will get my act together in time for next week’s post! ******************************* My buddy, Esbee, over at the Life in Forsyth blog, emailed me to let me know about one of her blog posts that she…
Category Archives: Dealing With Public Perceptions
The kindness of friends: how have yours helped with your child?
Last week, I got an email from my friend Rob. He said that a yoga teacher who works near where we live was going to be at an event he was planning for Saturday night that I’d be at, too. “Maybe she could help Max!” he wrote. “I’ll make sure to introduce you two.” The…
The World Doesn’t Get It…
Recently, my husband applied for a new job. This job would have taken us out of our current situation (No family, no help, no children’s hospital unless we drive 3 hours…one way) to another state. This state currently holds all of our family, and most of our friends. Convenient, eh? So, he interviewed. It went…
Autism: Living with the looks
I was at Barnes and Noble the other day and believe that I witnessed an autistic meltdown. A father was in line with his teenage son when the woman in front of them sneezed loudly. The noise took the teenager by surprise, and he covered his ears and yelled “too loud, must leave, too loud”…
Insensitive
As many of you know, I have a 19 year old daughter named Jessica. I adopted Jessica when she was 9 years old. She had spent most of her life in foster care, and along the way was both physically and sexually abused. In addition, she was diagnosed as an infant with brain cancer. She…
That “You think YOUR life is so hard?” feeling
This weekend, I visited a relative who may or may not be my sister, and I pretty much felt like I could smack her. She started it! She started it! (To quote an oft-repeated refrain from childhood.) She kept stressing out. First, she got irritated at her husband because he was in the kitchen preparing…
Today’s Hero
Dear Soldier in Panera, We were waiting to grab a bite of lunch. Of course, we made it “to-go”, because Jack doesn’t eat and hates being around food. The line continued to grow, and you stepped in front of us to grab your order. My son, who is completely enamored by the “pow-pow men” (otherwise…
a different sense of humor
When your kids a beyond the norm, you have to adapt. There is the obvious rigorous schedule of meds, therapy, stretching, speech exercises, feedings and freak out. But there is more. Over the years, I have noticed that parents of kids with special needs have a common thread with another part of our society. I…
Freedom Hopes
This Fourth of July week I’ve been thinking a lot about the word ‘freedom’ as it pertains to my children with significant disabilities. It’s not flags and fireworks I’m thinking about, but rather the freedom of choice. I want my children to be able to make choices, to live life their own way. I want…
Didn’t your mama tell you that staring is rude? (Part 2)
I’ve written before about how unsettling it is to me when adults stare at Max. Well, here’s what’s even more unsettling: When kids stare blatantly at Max—I mean, just plain gawk—and their parents don’t say a word. We were on vacation all last week, and it kept happening. While we were at dinner, and kids…