So if I told you that we went to an outdoor pool, hit some water slides and a lazy river, and followed it up with a dinner at Ruby Tuesdays and a family movie, you’d probably categorize that as a pretty good day, right? In reality, the day went more like this: We waited as…
Author: Maya
Mother to two beautiful children, multitasker extraordinaire, co-founder of a non-profit and employee of large corporation, wife to an opinionated, supportive husband, avid avoider of political discussions.
Why We Did It
I’m spending the night in the city again. I drag my suitcase quickly out of the car, aware that I don’t want to lean into the car for too long at this point of night and lose track of what might be happening behind me on the city sidewalk. After heading into our escape hatch…
The Lies We Tell Every Day
You might not like me very much after this post, but that’s something I’ll have to live with. After all, the main point of this post is just that–the truth is not very popular. I can only speak for my husband and myself here when I say that we lie every single day. We lie…
Our Time at the Horse Boy Ranch
Over Spring Break of this year, we went on an “epic road trip” (the use of the word epic usually makes me cringe, but in this case, I’m going to declare that it applies). To save money and to hit various spots along the way (including Birmingham, AL and New Orleans, LA), we drove from Washington,…
How Quickly Remarkable Shifts to Normal
Before I get too far down 2014, a year that has started out with an exhausted, unmotivated version of myself, I figured that I should catalog, in prose form, where we are in our “Autistic Life”. If I wait any longer to document this particular moment, it will quickly melt into the daily landscape of…
Some Thoughts on the Social Contract
WARNING: THIS IS A LONG POST. But these thoughts have been simmering for a while, so I’ve had a chance to come up with a lot of material. 🙂 *********** So we really put ourselves out there when we sought out the Huffington Post to share our story (the local Washington Post apparently found nothing…
My Boy is Super
As I’ve mentioned previously, it’s not always easy to get great images of my son, despite the fact that I am a photographer, and–more importantly–in spite of his beauty. Yup, I said it. He is a beautiful little boy. His face may be scratched up (he’s kind of rough and tumble and has a very,…
Being Honest Doesn’t Make Me a Terrible Person
So there’s a big kerfuffle/hullabaloo/blog-a-thon out there at the moment regarding Autism Speaks, its ongoing failures, and its recent call for action to fix/address/cure/prevent the autism crisis in American from spreading. First, I must confess that I don’t pay much attention to Autism Speaks or any major autism groups, whether they’re run by autistic advocates,…
To My Daughter
Dear Baby D, Before I knew who you would become, I somehow selected the perfect middle name for you: Grace*. You are filled with it, even though you do not yet know this. Last week one night, while your brother raged, attempted to bite your Mommy and Daddy’s faces, pull our hair, and throw everything…
Why I Will Never Join the PTA
This is why you will rarely see a special needs parent step up to manage a school auction. And yes, I actually sat down this morning, after opening up my inbox to discover my second piece of bad news for the day (more legal details to come) and shared all of these details with a…