It seems a strange thing to be grateful for, but I’m thankful both boys are on the spectrum. Not every day. But most days. Weird, right? But I get good things in twos: Both boys love to slam each other on the ground, on each other, on the bed. They love the pressure of their daily matches, and neither one complains that the other is being too rough. That’s because short of a puncture wound, … [Read more...]
Different Just Like Me
It was a Thursday night, and I was sitting on the couch after dinner, watching the news. Noah slipped in from the kitchen and sat down next to me. A few times daily, Noah sidles in to check on me. While his ninja-level lurking usually scares me out of my skin (because, as he says, “Screaming makes my brain all fluttery”), Noah likes to periodically sense my mood and see what I’m doing. Noah … [Read more...]
The Googolplex of Disability, or, How Many Times I Have to Repeat Myself
I’m going to be honest. I took high school calculus because my best friend was taking it, and I needed to prove I was as smart as she was. I was very insecure, and what’s worse, I hated math. But I did get something good from all those numbers: a B- and a neat little tidbit: A “googol” is 10 to the power of 100. The “googolplex” is significantly larger: 10 to the power of a googol - 10googol, or … [Read more...]
Giving and Taking Away
If you can watch your child slip into the pseudo-coma of anesthesia and not get teary-eyed, you are a better parent than me. Because my face immediately started leaking. This MRI was a long time coming. For four years, my son has complained of right leg pain. After no longer tolerating the “growing pains” explanation of our doctor, (or Jesse’s nocturnal wailings that “my leg hurts!”), … [Read more...]
Risking Love
We didn’t know what to think of him. Who was this young man, and why was he hanging around our campsite? For the last 7 years, my family has joined a close-knit group of families to camp on Memorial Day weekend. We have become more than close during those years, watching our kids grow from preschool age to adolescents. We have shared laughter, tears, trials and triumphs. These three-day … [Read more...]
I Am Tired and Weary
I am tired. I am weary. I feel overwhelmed. It is that time of year for me when all the holidays start coming one after the other. It is that time of year where my son Charlie’s work at school starts getting harder and in more abundance. It is that time of year where I am longing for a break or rest. Do you have those same thoughts and feelings? Lately in my small group at church I have … [Read more...]