siblings and autism
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Bittersweet Moments
My sister reminds me all the time that W’s my freebee. The one I don’t really have to worry about. The easy one. W’s patient, kind, smart, and motivated. She’s naturally a good kid. She’s only 11, and she’s an old soul in many ways. Being a special needs sibling has shaped a lot of who she is. She’s responsible by necessity. She’s been forced to be organized because I’m often busy organizing J’s life. She’s the child who I can always count on. Unlike J, I know exactly how to relate with W. In many ways her brain works in the same way as mine. But as we venture deeper…
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Taylor Swift, Hipsters, and Feeling Understood
Last Monday, while shopping at Zandbroz, (the best little bookstore/place for funky eclectic gifts and décor in Fargo), someone in the store switched up the music and suddenly I heard Ryan Adams strumming and singing Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood ” above my head. It was early afternoon and the store was pretty dead. I placed my merchandise on the counter and decided to make small talk with the cashier. As the cashier swiped my credit card, I asked, “So do you sell the Ryan Adams 1989 album too?” “No,” he said turning bright red under his grizzly hipster beard. “We don’t sell the music we play in the store.” “Oh,”…
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W, Teen Vogue, and New Territory
This week a fuschia envelope arrived in the mailbox, addressed exclusively to “W,” inviting her to sign up for a year’s worth of Teen Vogue and I thought W? Our W? Teen Vogue you’ve got this girl all wrong. This girl is into dirt and butterflies and sap samples. She loves books and her microscope kit. I have to remind this girl to brush her hair every morning before she leaves our house or else she won’t do it. Her mind is nowhere near fashion, beauty, and celebrities. This girl doesn’t even have her own cell phone. She’s turning 11 this week. But Teen Vogue’s calling card made me realize that things are changing. W starts middle…
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Bringing Autism to a Rock Concert
I should start off by saying that there probably isn’t one right way of doing this. In fact, initially, we weren’t sure if there was any real way of doing this. If you do the math, taking J to see Imagine Dragons looked like this: autism + travel 3 hours to Winnipeg + alternative rock concert late at night = pure insanity So we decided to go ahead and buy 4 tickets despite of all that. YOLO, right? We were banking on a few things. This was Imagine Dragons. J is absolutely obsessed with Imagine Dragons, so there was a chance it might work. And J is fresh off his first year of middle…
