Sharing the Wins Matters

The glimpse into the crystal ball that I needed.

Hello all,

Back when autism was new to us, I longed for a crystal ball. I wanted a glimpse into our future so badly.

I wanted to know if this was going to be alright. Because I can vulnerably admit to you, that there were moments where I couldn’t picture this being okay.

In our hardest days, the ones that much of the world doesn’t want to believe exist, we couldn’t safely leave our house. Our son couldn’t communicate. He broke lightbulbs. He lined up chairs. He hit. He hurt. He didn’t sleep.

We felt trapped. Frozen in a way.

And I believed that I was a failure. But more so, I was failing my boy.

Time has a way of healing and fixing.

Cooper is 14 years old now. He still carries the same diagnosis of severe nonverbal autism. That hasn’t changed.

But boy has he. And so has our family.

We view his diagnosis differently now.

Autism is the suitcase each of us carries. Always present. Always with us. The weight different for each of us though.