What Autism Brings Us

Hi. My name is Carrie.  I have five kids, and my second son has autism. His name is Jack. He is sixteen years old.  For me, autism brings a trifecta of hope, grief, and peace. Hope is the bundle of rocks I carry everywhere I go. Grief is the small box of feathers I let myself open every once in a while.  And peace? Well, that is the long, jagged mountain I climb, clutching my bundle of hope and a box full of feathers. Jack and my firstborn, Joseph, are…

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The World is so Different

Last night, over dinner, my 7-year-old asked why the people did bad things at the capitol. I was a bit taken aback by his question. I didn’t know he knew anything about it. I first asked him where he heard about it. Then I asked him what he knew. He told me the kids were talking about it at the hockey rink. He also told me who each of the kid’s parents supposedly voted for. He asked why they did it and why they all had flags and why people…

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The Special Needs Sibling Shield

Today we ventured to Walmart for a few things. Eggs. Milk. Nerf gun bullets. And 2 pieces of paper. The essentials. Obviously. Outings as a family are still relatively new for us. And while they are far from perfect, they are real. See, we have a kid who is just learning about waiting and buying and walking and all the parts of the world. While our son Cooper is making amazing progress at stores and by amazing I mean huge leaps and bounds…so much of it is still hard for…

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