Grateful

I saw this while shopping in Hell-Mart yesterday. I quickly grabbed a copy and brought it home to read.

Jenny and Evan do not share an identical story with myself and Logan, yet I could feel my heart aching for her and knew exactly how she felt at times. I know how devastating it is when your child stops being affectionate, becomes withdrawn and stops engaging with the family. I remember watching the early warning signs of stacking objects next to one another. In fact I can share a story.

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One morning I had just taken Logan downstairs. Vincent was still just a baby so I placed him in his bassinet and went to prepare a drink for Logan. I came upstairs, made the drink, used the restroom and walked back down to the playroom. As I unlocked the gate and turned around I gasped at the sight before me.

Logan was sitting on the ground, looking at the toys (in this case, riding toys and huge trucks) he had placed in a perfectly straight line. The trucks reached from one wall to the next. They made an assembly line across the floor, like a man made traffic jam. An eerie feeling came over me at that point. I stared for a long time before Vincent's cry brought me back to reality. This was before Logan was diagnosed.

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A lot has happened since we were told "we think Logan has autism". Jim and I have dealt with many things and I'm so grateful our marriage is strong as is our love. Otherwise who knows where we'd be, or even if we'd still have our family together. I couldn't imagine going it alone. You need someone to share your inner fear and doubts with.

Bravo to Jenny for sharing her son and his autism with the world. We need a face placed with the word "Autism" and I think his is a beautiful one that will hopefully shock the world into acceptance and action. The article is very good, with excerpts from her book. I plan on purchasing the book and will let you know how it is.