The week after my child was diagnosed with autism, I held it together for a few days and then sobbed uncontrollably while speaking to my friend/psychologist over the phone. I stood in the bathroom where I went to talk alone and gazed at my swollen eyes and red face in the mirror. I was in a panic because my child was three and had missed out on some intensive early intervention as her diagnoses … [Read more...]
Fuel for the Journey
Parenting may be one of the most rewarding jobs on earth, but it is also one of the most difficult. I am the mother of three sons. My youngest, Joel (32), has autism along with an anxiety disorder and severe kyphosis of the spine. Parenting a child with a disability is especially demanding, requiring surpluses of energy, patience and perseverance beyond, at times, what seems humanly possible. As … [Read more...]
How Are You, Really?
“How are you?” Such seemingly simple words that are often used in passing. Acceptable social responses range from fine, good, or great. Sometimes if someone wants to be slightly more real they will say “tired” followed by a quick laugh. Have you ever met someone that you felt you could be real enough with to give an answer beyond the standard “good”? This happened one Sunday morning to my wife, … [Read more...]
Top Five Self-Care Tips for Special-Needs Parents
Self-care is a phrase that gets tossed around often, but for special-needs parents, self-care is not optional. If we don’t care for ourselves, we can’t properly care for the children God has given us. Last October I focused on self-care for the entire month of October and shared what I learned on my blog. Five tips seemed to resonate most with the readers of my site and I'm sharing them … [Read more...]
Bitter or Better?
I can remember it like it was yesterday. The sassy, obese mother of a teenage boy on the autism spectrum, sitting there each week as her son’s adaptive aquatics class overlapped with my young son's session -- We would chat on occasion. She was always so snarky, spouting off about her useless husband, her irritating teenagers, and the limitless ways life had done her wrong. I swear there was a … [Read more...]
The Importance of Self-Care for Special-Needs Parents
When life gets stressful and you feel like there's too much on your plate, what's the first thing that gets pushed off? Self-care. But I'm working to make it a priority again. This last year has been incredibly hard on our family. Just over the last few months we moved from Pennsylvania to Texas, my husband started a new job in a field he's never worked in before (one of those 8-5 jobs he's … [Read more...]