My 13-year old son Jack has autism, and every day I read something new about what caused it. In the past week alone, I have seen the following headlines: Women of advanced maternal age are more likely to give birth to children with autism. Air pollution is the leading cause of autism. Don’t use Windex. I was […]
I saw you the other night, and I know you saw us. You know, when you looked at my son Jack jumping and hopping all over the restaurant. You looked at him quickly and then you dropped your eyes really fast to your menu. Listen, I get it. I really do. He had chocolate frosting […]
I think of you as a person sometimes. I really do. You are the third wheel, or the uninvited guest to a party—the one who shows up empty-handed and eats all the chips with the good dip and stays way after everyone else leaves, telling boring stories and bragging about the glory days of high […]
Hey, Jack. You know how you have autism, right? I mean, we’ve never kept it a secret. It’s something we talk about a lot, actually. We talk about how, because of autism, your brain sometimes stays stuck on certain ideas, and you have a lot of fears about ordinary things, and your body jumps and twitches […]
My 13-year old son Jack has autism. Over time, people have asked me many, many questions about both him and his diagnosis. Is it mild? Is it severe? Is it, you know, bad? I never, ever mind when someone asks me a question. In fact, I love it. I want to tell you all about him and […]
Jack asked me what I was writing about this week, which is kind of unusual. He almost never does that. I told him I am writing about our friend Sebastian. He asked why, and I said because I want people to know Sebastian, just like I want people to know him. What I didn’t say […]
You may not know this, but a couple of months ago I un-friended you on Facebook. I mean, we weren’t exactly friends in the regular sense. We never met for coffee or talked on the phone or texted each other. We don’t even live in the same state, and I haven’t seen you in over […]
I never wanted to be The Person. You know, The Person—the one in a marriage who handles all the kid stuff, like changing the diapers and checking the homework folder and buying shoes. (The Person is also known as the Default Parent, The Micromanager, or the Helicopter Mom.) I did pretty well for the first […]
It’s May now. The days are longer and warmer, and the air feels soft. Summer is so close, it’s as though we can reach out our fingers and touch it. Your backpacks are probably all worn out and have a bunch of stuff rolling around in the bottom—elastic bands and fidget spinners and old worksheets you forgot to […]
