Our Autism Life

Let me tell you about a boy I know…His name is Cooper. He’s the one on the right.

Today, we celebrated him. And we also celebrated his brothers. And our family.

And how autism is woven throughout all of us. Impacting each of us in different ways.

We had a party too.

We had ice cream and sprinkles and chocolate syrup and cupcakes.

And we celebrated this boy. The one who was born seeing and hearing and feeling and thinking in his own unique way.

Some people tried to tell me that his life was going to be sad and lonely. They told me all of the things that he would never do or accomplish.

They stole the joy from my eyes for many years. I have so much guilt that I let them do that.

But this boy, he helped me find it again. He grabbed my hand and led me into his world.

He loves parties. He loves people. Especially his people.

He greeted every single one of his guests with a wave and a smile today. And he hugged his favorites.

He used his speech device to tell them that his grandparents are coming in two days.

He held up two fingers to inform a few of them that he is waiting on two dvds from eBay.

He took a break and went to the mailbox with his dad and returned with a brand new train magazine. He was pretty stoked to show that off too.

And when he got overwhelmed by the noise, he signed ‘help’ to me and we made him a safe space right in the middle of the celebration.

He hid for a while and just listened to the hum of his friends. He didn’t want to leave, he just needed a timeout to reset.

And when the rest of the kids went to play football, he decided it was time to take his leave and watch his programs.

Today we celebrated a boy. A happy boy. One who is surrounded by love and support.

Today we celebrated a different life and it was amazing.

Our three boys have been camping out on the floor for the last few nights. It started with Cooper. Every so often he decides to sleep on the floor with a dozen blankets.

And well, his brothers, they can’t be left out.

I can’t even put into words the joy coming from the bedroom before they finally fell asleep. Squeals and giggles and tattling and wrestling.

This my friends is our life. Our autism life. And hope and joy and love and resilience all mixed together.

Our 11th World Autism Day. Today was a good day.