My littlest, not so little, loves. Justin, my first-born, my made-me-a-mom-grown-up son. I love so many things about you. Your joy when you see a video you haven’t watched in years, and your need to share your elatedness with me. The way you perform your tasks at your job with such seriousness, and take pride ..read more

Yesterday I saw a post on Facebook by a friend. It was an image of a cat kicking the number “2023” off a ledge. My sentiments exactly. Frankly, I could say the same about 2022 as well. Truly, the last two years have been so ridiculous on so many levels, they would never merit a ..read more

As I’ve mentioned before, this is a year of “lasts.” Two weeks ago, my family, including my aunt and my mother, flew to Florida for our last semi-annual trip to Disney and Universal. We have been going every other year for ten years, but two years from now my youngest has the audacity to want ..read more

So yesterday, it rained on our parade. A fundraiser for our non-profit, HomeLife21, HabCore, and Autism MVP at the Dublin House, had to be cancelled yesterday due to inclement weather. We will reschedule, and it will take place in the spring. To say I was disappointed with the weather gods is an understatement. But the ..read more

Call this the summer of “first lasts.” My son Justin, who is twenty, profoundly autistic and non-verbal, will graduate from his beloved private autism school on June 14th, 2024. It will be a day of joy, and on my part, many tears. Also, much wine and chocolate. This summer I went to his last swim ..read more

Nineteen years ago this fall, I took my toddler to his pediatrician for a scrip for reflux. I walked out of the appointment with a referral to a developmental pediatrician for an autism evaluation, alone, overwhelmed, and terrified. It was 2004. He was seventeen months old. I drove back home with him to our house ..read more

He sits casually on a couch in the hot, humid lounge area of his dormitory, my sixteen-year-old son with mild autism who is about to embark on a two week coding class at Tufts University. He is immersed in his phone, quite relaxed since we have checked him in, made his bed, and most importantly ..read more

J June 14th, 2023. Not an important date for the world, just graduation day for my then twenty-one-year-old, profoundly autistic son. The last day I have the security of knowing he is cared for, and kept active. https://a808accb6060df8c68e2f7bd1aa154ab.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html The last day I know for certain he will have somewhere to go. For the last few ..read more

“Come on buddy, you can do it” says our Registered Behavior Technician in-training (RBT), as he gestures back to the picture schedule Justin is using as a visual cue to regain some lost independence skills with showering. Slowly, my son looks at him, then looks at me. He grins, then reaches for the shampoo. Playing ..read more

You’re turning twenty today. I still find it impossible that you now tower over me, but at my 5’1” height, maybe that’s not such an achievement after all. Even with your added inches, you still nestle into my right shoulder for comfort, the exact same spot you always went to as a baby and toddler ..read more