Editorial Note: This little gem was originally published two years ago when Red was in 9th grade. He is now in 11th.
My Facebook status tonight (personal page):
My Twitter Status:
_______________________________
It is a typical morning after a night from hell. Red -slow poking out of bed, followed by a short nap on the kitchen table after breakfast. I resist the fight -just too tired from the rant the night before. I go sit in my car and wait until he decides to join me.
We get to school and he pulls the same old okie-doke...I don't want to go in nonsense. Just get out of the freakin' car for Gods sake!
Today I have the dog with me. Harry is my six and a half pound all white maltese. He has a 9 a.m. grooming appointment. School starts at 8:45 a.m. It's now 9:05 a.m.
"I need to get Harry to the groomer. I've already missed my Zumba class. Can you please get out of the car?" I ask as nicely as I can muster.
He sits and sits...and I do not like it, not one little bit. I get out of the car with the dog. I do not want to be an audience for him. I can not leave the dog in the car for Red to play with. Harry and I walk through the school doors. I say hello to the Receptionist. Dogs are not allowed on campus. She doesn't even bat an eye. She is used to our morning circus act.
Red remains in the car watching me through the window. I head toward the Assistant Principals office. I stop short when I notice a little alcove where I can hide. (Yes...I said hide). I can peak out of another window from here. I see that Red has exited the car. I go back into my corner. I watch as he marches right past me without turning to look back in my direction. As he turns the corner, I walk quickly out the front door. Before I get to my car...I notice that he is now walking behind me. (No -he didn't just go on to class like a normal person.) I hightail it to the car, lock the doors and burn rubber through the parking lot laughing madly, hysterically all the way like an evil character in a cartoon.
This absurdity is called my life. I swear we should have our own reality show. America would never believe it.
btw...I put his ass on the school bus this morning. Teeth not brushed but oh well! Game over!
_____________________________
Note: Things have improved a great deal since I originally posted this. Red now gets to school on time by riding the bus...most days. I do however still have margarita therapy as often as I possibly can.
My Facebook status tonight (personal page):
"Do you ever wish your life was a television movie and you could just turn the channel?"
"Son in Social Skills Therapy...Mom in margarita therapy."
We get to school and he pulls the same old okie-doke...I don't want to go in nonsense. Just get out of the freakin' car for Gods sake!
Today I have the dog with me. Harry is my six and a half pound all white maltese. He has a 9 a.m. grooming appointment. School starts at 8:45 a.m. It's now 9:05 a.m.
"I need to get Harry to the groomer. I've already missed my Zumba class. Can you please get out of the car?" I ask as nicely as I can muster.
He sits and sits...and I do not like it, not one little bit. I get out of the car with the dog. I do not want to be an audience for him. I can not leave the dog in the car for Red to play with. Harry and I walk through the school doors. I say hello to the Receptionist. Dogs are not allowed on campus. She doesn't even bat an eye. She is used to our morning circus act.
Red remains in the car watching me through the window. I head toward the Assistant Principals office. I stop short when I notice a little alcove where I can hide. (Yes...I said hide). I can peak out of another window from here. I see that Red has exited the car. I go back into my corner. I watch as he marches right past me without turning to look back in my direction. As he turns the corner, I walk quickly out the front door. Before I get to my car...I notice that he is now walking behind me. (No -he didn't just go on to class like a normal person.) I hightail it to the car, lock the doors and burn rubber through the parking lot laughing madly, hysterically all the way like an evil character in a cartoon.
This absurdity is called my life. I swear we should have our own reality show. America would never believe it.
btw...I put his ass on the school bus this morning. Teeth not brushed but oh well! Game over!
_____________________________
Note: Things have improved a great deal since I originally posted this. Red now gets to school on time by riding the bus...most days. I do however still have margarita therapy as often as I possibly can.
Logging you in...
Adelaide Dupont · 285 weeks ago
And for those of us who knew and appreciated these points in high school to a greater or lesser extent - always good to have a refresher and feel them through the current and future generations who we survived to be able to see.
I especially appreciated points 5, 7 and 10.
And young women not settling or settling down yet is a good thing.
"It's never too late to live our dreams" - but it may be too early for some of them!
And 8 of course.
nicole · 243 weeks ago
Risa · 230 weeks ago
LAH · 221 weeks ago
Maira L. Coral · 216 weeks ago
I was looking for information for my Multi-Genre Disability Research Project from my Early Childhood Special Education class on the web, when suddenly I came across your blog. I started reading this out of curiosity and I want to tell you that as you said yourself, you will not be Amanda Gorman, but you managed to make me shed some tears, perhaps because I felt totally identified with your words, especially in the part that you speak of your son. My son also has Asperger's syndrome, he is 19 years old and he is in the second semester of College. Also like yours, he takes classes from home, likewise my eldest daughter is also taking college classes from her room. At the same time, that I work as a preschool teacher from my kitchen through a computer, my husband sleeps in the room during the day because he works at night. Also in the afternoons I myself take virtual school classes. I am a 51-year-old Latin woman who began to learn the English language as adult, so maybe you find some deficiencies in my writing, however, I was very moved by how proud you express yourself about your son. Referent your mother, I liked the humorous tone that you give when your talk about her, so I did not want to miss this opportunity and stopped my assignments for a moment to let you know that your words do make a difference, since they reach the heart of at least those who have opportunity to read you. I want confess you that is the most long I have written to someone I don't know, because your words inspired me, thank you...
Gavin Bollard · 209 weeks ago
Thanks for this post. I've been very distracted of late and so this was how I found out about our friend Kate. Kate's struggles were very real but they were so constant and so wide-ranging that it was difficult for people around her to address them. I think it's going to take a while longer for me to process all this.
I learned so much from Kate because she was always quick to point out the many injustices in the world. In her glory days, she was very much a crusader and she cared for everyone. Over the years, as her situation took its toll, I came to realise that it was the fact that she couldn't be put in a single specific category, that made the system fail her. She needed help that they weren't set up to provide.
She needed more care and she needed to be less alone. I'm so sorry that this has happened.
For a long while we were corresponding almost every day but a couple of months ago, I realised that she had become so stressed that nearly every interaction I had with her was starting to trigger her. I backed away to give her a bit more space. She only had a little time that she could stand to be online and there were too many things that she wanted to do in that time. I thought that by taking a step back, she could reach out to more people who might be geographically closer and able to assist.
Kate was a beautiful soul and she will be sorely missed by all of us.
diyalabs6192603 11p · 192 weeks ago
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Spoil your cat · 122 weeks ago
Many of these living arrangement aren't good, and many of the people who run those places really don't have the residents' best interest at heart. Those places are like old age homes and foster homes, where you sometimes hear horror stories. They're hard to trust. But then there are good ones, of course.
The best thing for an autistic adult is either to go on living at home or working and renting an apartment and living independently, but that isn't always an option.
Duncan · 112 weeks ago