I suspect that friendship and community used to be easier, or at least simpler than it is now. “You live next door and you’re available to watch my kid sometimes?” Great, we’re best friends. Doesn’t matter if we disagree politically. Your differing thoughts about race, gender, and religion don’t matter because I know you and… Continue reading Friendship
I don’t have good dreams. Almost all of my dreams consist of one main element: I am trying to do something mundane like get to class, or leave a building, but I cannot seem to do it no matter how hard I try. I spend the whole dream (nightmare) walking through some invisible force that… Continue reading Burnout
Day 13 Incessant stress headaches. I attempted to hydrate and avoid Advil, but quickly gave in again. It’s too loud to let a headache linger. Meltdowns abound. During the second meltdown, I decided that I needed to let out some of my anger too. I kicked the floor with my feet and banged the ottoman.… Continue reading Quarantine Diaries
It’s taken me some time to wrap my head around this new reality. Along with everyone else, I feel unprepared. How do I manage my kid’s schoolwork, stick to a schedule and routine, manage my practice and clients... all while living without much needed breaks from the kids, and with social distancing? So far, the… Continue reading Grief and Gratitude
It's been hard being back to reality, so I’ll stay in Disney World a little longer through my memories. My main hope in sharing about our trip is that our experience will be helpful to special needs families planning their first Disney trip, and also because I will surely forget the lessons we learned for… Continue reading Our 1st Disney Trip
I don’t often share the details of our daily lives. There are many reasons for it, the first is that I seriously doubt anyone wants to hear them. It’s too much, too hard, and too constant for people in our lives to hear about regularly. No one knows what to say, and I understand that.… Continue reading what I want you to know
I was over all the things when I finally made the decision to stay home. I was over myself losing my patience, again. Over feeling like I couldn’t give enough to anyone: my kids, my clients, my husband. Over always feeling overwhelmed and behind. Over the phone calls and emails with more bad news, losses,… Continue reading Not just a mom
As is my new yearly tradition, it’s time to reflect on Caleb’s 2nd year of school since Pre-K, which is also right around the 2nd anniversary of his autism diagnosis. Writing is a way of expressing myself, of reflecting and remembering and processing. Raising a child with autism is traumatic, folks. Almost every day is… Continue reading a year in review: 1st grade
We don’t want you to know how much it costs us emotionally and financially to do what we do because it’s not about us. It takes years of school, a year of unpaid work, and years of experience and supervision, a licensure exam, and infinite paperwork to become fully licensed. Once licensed, we attend at… Continue reading 5 things your counselor won’t tell you
“You should be a teacher, Mommy,” Caleb tells me last night. “Why’s that, bud?” “You have good behavior. You yell sometimes, but you mostly have good behavior. You are nice to me. You left your job to have more time with me. I love you, Mommy.” “I love you, too buddy. More than you know.”… Continue reading I love you, Mommy
our messy joyful life 