I do kind of work in a circus...
There is no school thanks to Christopher Columbus. I make good on my promise to take Blue out for breakfast which, is actually a late lunch. We go to IHOP. The happiness is visible on his face. The boy LOVES to eat! It is a simple pleasure for him. He thanks me over and over again with sincerity. Afterwards, I convince him to go for a walk to help burn off the calories
At 3 p.m. I leave Blue at home to finish homework. (Juggle) While I take Red to go pick up the friend that he has been just dying to have over to hang out and watch his new Blu Ray movie "Fast Five." I take these boys to subway for an even later lunch so that I don't have to feed them at home...and clean up the mess. I pay for the food and then go sit in my car to play "Words With Friends" on my phone, so that I don't have to listen to their ludicrous conversation and watch them scarf down the sandwiches like a couple of wild animals.
I call Hubby to come to pick up Blue to take him to a Destination Imagination meeting. D.I. is a team oriented, problem solving/leadership program of sorts. (I volunteered hubby to be the Team Manager). I think it will be a great bonding experience for them. So as they are leaving...I pull up with Red and his friend. (Juggle Juggle)
Now Blue doesn't get along all that well with Red's friend and Hubby doesn't really like other people's kids all that much...at least not in our house. He barely has the patience for his own kids, much less their friends. I think this goes back to his childhood. His mother hardly ever let them have friends over...only cousins. In my house...there was always a house full of kids. For me...this meant mostly boys. For some reason most of my friends were boys. Especially when I got to high school age. (Really...they were just friends!)
Anyhoo...do you see the juggling trend here?
Red and his friend start watching the movie until Red's friend starts falling asleep. He no longer wants to watch the movie. Red becomes agitated about this. "I mean...why is he falling asleep? He doesn't want to watch the movie anymore ...and I don't want to do anything else...so maybe he should just go home." Wow...lovely social skills there! I convince the two of them to go get on YouTube or something. Moments later, I hear music and singing...loud, bad, singing along with laughter. (This is rare for Red.) Finally...they are having fun. Red has been dying to have this friend over. Yet...I have to tell them how to have fun together.
BTW...they borrow a chair from Blue's room (with my permission) so that his friend has a place to sit while they are on the computer, listening to music and singing loud and off key.
When Blue and Dad come home...I take Red's friend home. While driving, Blue calls me..."WHY IS MY CHAIR IN REd's room!?" He's yelling at me on the phone. First of all...this is MY chair that I let him borrow so long ago that apparently, he has forgotten that it's mine.
"Excuse me but you are yelling and I am driving. This is not acceptable. Good-bye."
I come home the rant continues. Dad intervenes. He is trying to rescue me..however, he does not give any empathy to Blue's feelings. He tells him to go wipe the chair with a Lysol wipe if he thinks it's so full of germs. This is not acceptable to Blue. Dad has hurt his feelings. No one understands him. He decides he's going to runaway.
I am kind of glad that he is going to "walk it off" (or so I think). The problem is it's near dusk. Moments pass and it's getting dark...he is nowhere in sight. We are about to send out the search party...me in one car. Dad in another. Dad leaves first. As I am pulling out of the driveway...he walks up. Moments later, Dad pulls up to the house. The two of them go inside for another chat. I keep Red at bay...sitting out on the front porch.
Everyone is so on edge around here. It's like walking in a field of landmines. This job is not for the weak at heart.
Peace is made...I'm sorries, hugs and I love you's are exchanged. All is well in the world by the time I kiss them all goodnight.
Just another day in the life...

There is no school thanks to Christopher Columbus. I make good on my promise to take Blue out for breakfast which, is actually a late lunch. We go to IHOP. The happiness is visible on his face. The boy LOVES to eat! It is a simple pleasure for him. He thanks me over and over again with sincerity. Afterwards, I convince him to go for a walk to help burn off the calories
At 3 p.m. I leave Blue at home to finish homework. (Juggle) While I take Red to go pick up the friend that he has been just dying to have over to hang out and watch his new Blu Ray movie "Fast Five." I take these boys to subway for an even later lunch so that I don't have to feed them at home...and clean up the mess. I pay for the food and then go sit in my car to play "Words With Friends" on my phone, so that I don't have to listen to their ludicrous conversation and watch them scarf down the sandwiches like a couple of wild animals.
I call Hubby to come to pick up Blue to take him to a Destination Imagination meeting. D.I. is a team oriented, problem solving/leadership program of sorts. (I volunteered hubby to be the Team Manager). I think it will be a great bonding experience for them. So as they are leaving...I pull up with Red and his friend. (Juggle Juggle)
Now Blue doesn't get along all that well with Red's friend and Hubby doesn't really like other people's kids all that much...at least not in our house. He barely has the patience for his own kids, much less their friends. I think this goes back to his childhood. His mother hardly ever let them have friends over...only cousins. In my house...there was always a house full of kids. For me...this meant mostly boys. For some reason most of my friends were boys. Especially when I got to high school age. (Really...they were just friends!)
Anyhoo...do you see the juggling trend here?
Red and his friend start watching the movie until Red's friend starts falling asleep. He no longer wants to watch the movie. Red becomes agitated about this. "I mean...why is he falling asleep? He doesn't want to watch the movie anymore ...and I don't want to do anything else...so maybe he should just go home." Wow...lovely social skills there! I convince the two of them to go get on YouTube or something. Moments later, I hear music and singing...loud, bad, singing along with laughter. (This is rare for Red.) Finally...they are having fun. Red has been dying to have this friend over. Yet...I have to tell them how to have fun together.
BTW...they borrow a chair from Blue's room (with my permission) so that his friend has a place to sit while they are on the computer, listening to music and singing loud and off key.
When Blue and Dad come home...I take Red's friend home. While driving, Blue calls me..."WHY IS MY CHAIR IN REd's room!?" He's yelling at me on the phone. First of all...this is MY chair that I let him borrow so long ago that apparently, he has forgotten that it's mine.
"Excuse me but you are yelling and I am driving. This is not acceptable. Good-bye."
I come home the rant continues. Dad intervenes. He is trying to rescue me..however, he does not give any empathy to Blue's feelings. He tells him to go wipe the chair with a Lysol wipe if he thinks it's so full of germs. This is not acceptable to Blue. Dad has hurt his feelings. No one understands him. He decides he's going to runaway.
I am kind of glad that he is going to "walk it off" (or so I think). The problem is it's near dusk. Moments pass and it's getting dark...he is nowhere in sight. We are about to send out the search party...me in one car. Dad in another. Dad leaves first. As I am pulling out of the driveway...he walks up. Moments later, Dad pulls up to the house. The two of them go inside for another chat. I keep Red at bay...sitting out on the front porch.
Everyone is so on edge around here. It's like walking in a field of landmines. This job is not for the weak at heart.
Peace is made...I'm sorries, hugs and I love you's are exchanged. All is well in the world by the time I kiss them all goodnight.
Just another day in the life...

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