When I made my First Communion about a thousand years ago, I was picked to bring the gifts to the altar. For those who aren’t Catholic, this is a ritual performed during Mass where several people walk dow the aisle with gifts; the gift-bearers are meant to represent everyone in the church, and the gifts represent […]
Nearly every day someone asks me something like, “When did you know that Jack wasn’t normal?” And then they stop themselves, stammer a bit, and apologize for saying normal. Their faces get all red and they look away and stare at their feet. “I mean, you know, what’s normal, there is no normal, sorry for […]
Jack made his First Communion on Saturday. As with anything with an autistic child, it wasn’t perfect. Oh, I had high hopes of him walking gallantly down the aisle, hands folded into prayer position, smiling serenely. Just one more step towards his journey to become normal. Well, he isn’t normal, and there’s nothing like a […]