One snowy Saturday my fourteen-year-old son Joel and I bundled up to visit Janet, a friend just home from the hospital. Eight short weeks before, Janet had a stare-down with death and won. Joel didn’t really know Janet. She was an old friend of mine who lived out of town during much of his childhood. When she moved back to Cincinnati, we only saw each other once or twice a year. And yet, “Let’s … [Read more...]
Wholeness Does Not Mean Perfection: It Means Embracing Brokenness
I can’t tell you how many times, over my 32 year journey with autism, I have returned to this quote for inspiration: On July 4, 1999, a twenty-minute maelstrom of hurricane force winds took down twenty million trees across the Boundary Waters. A month later, when I made my annual pilgrimage up north, I was heartbroken by the ruin and wondered whether I wanted to return. And yet on each visit … [Read more...]
Double the Fun
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...]
I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up!
“Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” I used to roll my eyes every time that commercial came on the television. My friends and I made it into a joke, working the reference into our conversations. Then last Thursday afternoon occurred. I am recovering from extensive surgery on both my feet. I’ve spent the last several months in a wheelchair with casts on my legs. I have been astonished … [Read more...]
Helping our kids with disabilities find and establish friendships
Friends are an integral part of a happy and fulfilled life. We laugh with them, we cry with them, we play with them, we pray with them. As Charles Swindoll says, "I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun." Helping our kids with disabilities find and establish … [Read more...]
The Goodbye Salute: Noah Transitions to Middle School
In the gymnasium at North Bend Elementary, a smallish school in a mostly agrarian county in northeast Maryland, we parents sat packed together in tight rows. We were prepping for a transition. In the front of the gym, on the floor, were rows of children from kindergarten through fourth grade. They were present as witnesses to this celebration of the fifth graders. Today, the school would laud … [Read more...]