F YOU AUTISM

Autism is a strange thing.  It can mean so much and so very little at the same time.  It can define a child, a family, a parent.  It can rule your life.  It doesn't matter what part you play within the family, it will shape who you are.

Autism is scary.  We know so very little of it while there are millions of words written on the subject.  So much money has gone into research and so much time.  Yet, we don't know a whole lot.  There are some universal 'truths' about autism that you find out very quickly is not so much a truth as a 'for most but not all' situation.  It's all shades of grey.  No black and no white.  That is scary as shit.  Knowing there are no hard lines.  No definitive answers.  The word 'spectrum' becomes a curse.

Autism makes you flexible.  Managing schedules, uprooting the family for better services, running out of a restaurant because we're having a melt-down?  Got that covered.  You need to be bendy.  Bendiness (even if it's not a real word) is a good skill to have.  It means the world can hit you with a ball of crap and you can keep on running while catching that shit and not only throwing it right back at the world, but gift-wrapping it somewhere in between.  No sweat.  Got this covered, thank you. With a pretty bow on top.

Autism teaches discipline.  You were never one for schedules and order?  Tough shit.  Get over it.  Be FLEXIBLE and learn a new skill.  Learn how to organize and stay organized.  Learn how to do bed time the same way every day at the same time.  So what if it takes you three years before you have any success?  Take comfort in the fact that something as simple as a trip to the store can throw things out of wack enough to make bedtime a catastrope and all the hard work null and void.  It'll only take another three years to get it right again.  No problem.

Now, this all seems very negative... Autism isn't all bad.  There is so much wonder and complete and utter awesome in this world that one only notices and is exposed to once you walk this road.  But that is a topic for another time and another post.

For now: FUCK YOU, AUTISM... I'm going to bed.  Go away.

The Possibility of a New Reality

It has been awhile since my last post.  I've had a lot to say but besides having very little time to say it in, there was a lot of negative emotions running through me and I started feeling like I'm only blogging when I'm down in the dumps.  So I pushed on through and did what I could and here we are... in probably one of the most amazing places in the world.

The kids and I have moved in with the Grandparents for awhile.  My husband is staying behind to work at the place that pays the actual bills and work on selling our condo as soon as possible.  We have been granted a wonderful opportunity to get out of the city for a month or two (hopefully no more than three!) and let me tell you, I am hopelessly in love.

As I'm typing this I am sitting outside, overlooking the lake with a cup of coffee right next to me.  The kids are happily playing in the playroom, occasionally wandering outside to the sandpit, through the apple trees and down into the vegetable garden.  My wonderful Hubby and his dad put up a fence for the little ones last night and for the first time in months, I feel a certain amount of peace.  I feel as if I am relaxing and will finally be able to start enjoying the precious things in life.

Yesterday morning the Whirlwind and I went for a walk in the pear orchard across the street (it isn't really a street but according to the village council, it will be).  We picked fresh pears and apples - all fruit that has never been packaged, stored or transported.  Beautiful, fresh and healthy.  It was amazing.  The most amazing part?  We aren't vising a farm where we pay entry, spend an hour or two and see you again next year!  Nope, we are visiting Ouma and Oupa.  In the afternoon we had home grown and pressed hot apple cider and last week apricot fruit rollups.  I can go down to the general store and buy fresh farm eggs, from hens right up the street.  They make by far the best pasta dough you can imagine.

This is the good life.  It's so perfect.  Here, I can live.

We know we can't live here for ever, but we can buy a place close by.  We can live within an hour's drive from here and still have all the wonderful benefits and incredible weather of the area.  Close enough that we can go visit Ouma and Oupa at least once a week instead of once a month.  Wouldn't that be great?

The best part?  Knowing this can be our every day reality very soon and not just for a holiday.  This can be our reality for forever (or you know... a decade or so).

The Lotto

I have come to a decision last night.

We need to win the Lotto.

Plain and simple.  It’ll solve all our problems.  Well, maybe not all our problems, but will make the sting of most of our problems a little less.

You see, I have this vision of what our family should look like.  It’s a picture that has been in the back of my mind for many years but never quite as clear as in the past couple of days.  It’s a picture of what I feel in my heart of hearts is what a complete family will look like for us.  But reality isn’t cooperating.

I have this picture of me, standing in my bright and cheerful kitchen, doing the dishes.  The chicken pot pie is baking and I am looking through the window at the boys playing in the backyard.  All four of them.  Four kids, mostly or all boys.  There is a mommy van parked on the side of the house and life is crazy.  We have to do Costco runs at least once or twice a week to feed all these busy boys and we go to soccer and rugby practices every day with games on Saturdays.  Sundays we all pile into a pew at church and it’s a constant battle to get them to stop fidgeting and keeping their shirts tucked in.

It’s a pretty picture, at least to me.  Very idyllic.  And it can’t happen.  

The biggest problem in this whole scenario is the money.  We don’t need a lot more money to afford this dream, but we do need a bit more.  Ok, maybe not just a bit.  Two kids are already rough and as soon as you add one more to the mix we’ll need a van.  It’s hard enough fitting two car seats into my car with a stroller.  Anther one will require a upgrade.  And let us not forget about the gas. Lots and lots of gas.

Then comes the rooms.  You can’t house that many boys in just any house.  So we will need more money for a bigger house.  Bigger mortgage, higher taxes, more water and electricity usage.  It adds up.  We’re not even talking about all the groceries to feed all the mouths that need feeding!

And can you imagine how hard it would be to find a babysitter that will for a reasonable price watch them so we can have a night off every so often? 

Nope, I don’t think this is happening.  But o, do I ever wish.  I wish and I wish and I wish upon a star. 

Excuse me while I go buy another Lotto ticket, will you?

A Leap of Faith

There comes a time in life where we are faced with choices.  I’m not talking “should I buy the butter or the cheaper margarine” type choices.  I’m talking big, life changing choices.  We are at one of those places right now.  We’ve had to make many choices recently and they all came upon us with force.  

Initially my reaction was to run away and hide.  I tried ignoring the responsibilities that were thrust upon me.  When that didn’t work, I cried, yelled, screamed, ate, went to the gym, ate some more, tried a diet, failed at said diet, and then cried some more.  I had one mini-breakdown after another.  But, as life goes, you can’t keep ignoring your responsibilities and decisions need to be made.

We need to hire a behavioural consultant and behavioural therapist.  We have to set up a plan for the Whirlwind and family goals and all sorts of bullshit the government requires in order for us to receive all our autism funding.  The social worker insisted we do these things as soon as possible.  In the mean time he started preschool two days ago and we need to hire an assistant for him because he needs one-on-one care.  

And then we decided to move.

Just like that.

We’ve been toying with the idea to move away from our current area for years now.  For the last couple of months we zeroed in on an area about four or five hours away by car.  Our lovely Metropolis we are living in now might rank as one of the top spots to live in the world, but it is also damn expensive.  We need space for the boys.  If the Whirlwind was able to follow instructions such as to not run away at the playground, especially into the street, or to not climb over the baby gate and run away with a maniacal laugh as if this is the best game ever, we could probably have stayed a little longer.  Unfortunately, we can’t.  We can’t stay in this small space and we can’t afford to buy a house in this city.  We are a one-income family and until a time arrives where the Whirlwind no longer needs me to take him to all his appointments during the day and be ready to manage his day from one minute to the next, I’m not returning to work.  So no.  We can’t just find a different place here.

Unfortunately moving cities is a big undertaking.  And selling a condo, makes up a huge portion of that undertaking.  That means for the next month we are renovating as best we can without hiring professionals.  If it can be done DIY-style, it will be done.  We can’t sink in the kind of money a contractor would cost, we will be lucky if we sell this place at all.  In other words, thinking that we can spend money and get it back is ridiculous.  You need the right kind of home and housing market for that - neither of which we have.  

After renovations are done this month, the kids and I are moving in with the grandparents.  We will put this place up for sale and see what happens.  We haven’t made any plans from there onwards.  We are going of faith here.  We don’t know what is going to happen.  We might sell fast and we might not.  We might be house hunting by Christmas or not.  There are many, many other variables in this situation that will change the game for us.

It’s a leap of faith.  A big leap.  Things can go very, very wrong.  But things can also work out very well for us.  We are scared to leave the city and all the friends we made again.  But we know it’s what’s best for our family.  We just need to trust and pray that we are going in the right direction.  We cannot hire the Whirlwind’s behaviour consultant or interventionist until we’re done moving.  The occupational therapist is super nice and said she’ll email me activities to do and a list of equipment to submit to the funding office while we are in transit and waiting to get a new therapist.  The behaviour consultant we did see, advised us to wait because it takes time to get a program up and running and we will spend thousands of dollars, just to spend it all again on a new consultant and program once we moved.  Even at preschool, the ladies were incredibly understanding about our situation and agreed that this move is risky but necessary.  

It makes me feel better.  Knowing that all these professionals who work with children like the Whirlwind every day, agrees that this is what will be best for our family, despite the hardships we will go through to make it happen.  In the long run, it’s a step, no... a leap in the right direction.  No, let me rephrase that:  It’s a freakin’ scary leap of faith in what we believe is the right direction.  

We will never know for sure, but we have to trust that there is a plan we cannot yet see.

Friendship is Magic

Years ago my husband and I started watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.  Actually, to be honest, I started watching and made him watch it with me.  It didn’t take long for him to get hooked as well and we’ve been watching it together ever since.  He reads a lot of the fan fiction and even though I thought it a little creepy at first, once I read some as well, I realized that there are some pretty epic stories out there.  You forget about the whole idea that we’re talking about cute, colourful ponies quickly, instead they become full fledged characters the greatest fiction writers can be proud of.  There are some very real lessons and themes within both the show and some of the fan fiction.  

Now, a couple of years ago one of my middle school classes were having some trouble.  Friends were being mean to friends and bullying was rampant.  I taught Humanities - English and Social Studies, as well as Health and Career Education.  Naturally it fell to me to put a stop to their behaviour.  The problem lies with the fact that these kids (most kids today) have heard every lecture you can think of about bullying.  They have created posters, slogans and campaigns.  They have done it all and have grown numb to the message.  This was shortly after a series of teenage suicides due to bullying.  They have heard and seen it all.  They know the ins and outs of anti-bullying like no generation before them.

So what do you do?  What is there that I can possibly do to draw their attention and teach them in a way that will make a lasting effect.  Honestly, any effect at all would be great, whether it lasts or not.

On my way to school one day I had an idea.  The Elements of Harmony.  My Little Pony is going to save this day!  I showed them the first two episodes where the Elements were introduced.  Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty and Magic.  I described ‘Magic’ as Love to the kids.  The kind of love that keeps friends together.  It is what keeps the other Elements together to form friendship.  It was a powerful lesson.  The students did a lot of analyzing about what the Elements mean and how they can relate to them.  Honestly, it was easy on my part.  They did almost all of the thinking and the work.  They came up with all the right ideas and ways it relates to them with very little prodding on my part.

And then this morning, as I dropped my husband off at work, I realized that us adults seemed to have missed this message ourselves.  Why is it that we can teach it to kids, but don’t embrace the Elements ourselves?  We are constantly telling our children what makes a good friend but we are the first to turn to gossiping for entertainment?  We tend to only be generous to those we think deserve it, right?  Think about it for a second.  When you give, do you first judge a person to determine if they deserve your generosity or do you just see a need and try to fill it?  I know where I stand and I’m not too proud of that.  And I am not talking about your best friend coming by and asking for some sugar, I’m talking real, selfless giving.  

How much kindness and love do we show our fellow human beings?  Why do we have this tendency to shower only those closest to us with these Elements, but those who might be in very real need goes without because as strangers they are not our problem?  Many of us will donate to a good cause or give a few dollars to a beggar on the street thinking that we have now done our share.  But have we?  Have we really truly done something to show love to our fellow walkers of the earth?  Maybe.  Maybe not.

I realize that I might be able to spew a lot of ideas forth on the Magic of Friendship where my students are concerned, but until I start truly living these Elements, I am not worthy of teaching these concepts except maybe as an example of what not to do. I have a lot to learn about friendship and love.  And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one.

Writing's Hard, Yo!

Life's been rather busy.  So much is happening all at once.  We are dealing with one issue after another while navigating the world of Autism Intervention.  It's scary and very imposing.  It imposes on all my thoughts and day-to-day activities.

I've been meaning to write something about all that is going on but I found myself deleting every blog post I have written or started to write in the last week.  I keep trying and trying but I just don't know how.  Sometimes writing is very hard.

I guess the problem lies in the fact that my thoughts and emotions are so scattered, it is difficult to formulate a plan for a post.  Focus.  I am totally lacking focus.  If the state of my home is any indication, I need more focus in everything these days, not just writing! I've never believed that I can write or be a writer.  Once I started this blog, I started thinking that there might be a chance.  Just maybe I'm not a lost cause on the writing front after all!  But when I loose focus, I loose the little confidence I had as well.  Writing becomes hard then, yo!

The real trick is finding an anchor.  Something to focus on without losing sight of my responsibilities.  Where to find an anchor like that, I'm not yet sure.  What it might be is just as big of a mystery.  But what I do know, is that this is all temporary.  An anchor will appear, focus will return and all the mazes we are navigating be solved.  It is all just temporary.  Luckily!

PS:  Endorphins are over-rated.

Happy people don't just shoot their husbands...

I got a new gym membership today.  Not a full year subscription, just a regular (expensive) month-to-month membership.  I don't think of it as a gym membership.  I call it my sanity membership.

You see, normally when asked why people go to the gym you will get answers like:
"To loose weight."
"To tone up."
"To have more energy."
"To be more fit and healthy."

For me, it's all about the sanity.

Lately I have been noticing my fuse getting shorter and shorter.  I'm not a very nice person to be around most days and I get visibly upset over insignificant things.  I believe I fall in the 'unreasonable' category.  In short, I am not happy.  Too much responsibility does that to a person.

But, I came up with a plan:

ENDORPHINS!

I am going to go get myself some endorphins.  It's time to turn the happy back on... and you know, maybe loose a pound or two.  Or twenty.  Twenty would be nice.

***UPDATE: I've noticed the above video doesn't always show, so here's the link to the youtube video:  http://youtu.be/TjrBdKXgYFY