If you had a chance to read Kent's blog today you may be wondering what our typical get togethers are like.

We trade emails a week or two in advance and come up with a date and locale convenient to all of us. On the day of our meetup, Kent usually beats everyone there and is quietly sipping his ultra manly cup of grande gourmet coffee while securing a table and how ever many chairs he can.

The rest of us, Dave, Joe, Jay, Matt and I saunter in over the next few minutes and we exchange hellos via handshakes, knuckle punches, or slaps on the back. We’ve become a tight knit group over the course of just a few months.

We keep the meetings small enough to manage, 6 to 8 people which helps us all feel involved and gives us all the ability to chime in and laugh at experiences or offer encouragement at our struggles. Although we all come from extremely different walks of life and vary in age, our stories are all strikingly similar. We’re all dealing with the same problems, and relishing in the same successes.

Since our Dallas Morning News story a few weeks ago, we had a lot of inquiries from dads around the area wanting to become more involved.

It’s music to our ears. This is exactly what we wanted.

Our group has thoroughly enjoyed the free therapy our camaraderie has offered us and we love seeing other dads interested in pursuing it too.

We want other dads to have this same experience and pop up their own dad's groups all over the world.

It doesn’t have to be Starbucks and their gourmet coffee. It can be over a few rounds of Texas Hold’em, a donut shop, over a beer at a local bar, or kicking back taking in a game somewhere.

It’s easy. It just takes one dad to step up and get the ball rolling.

All you dads out there know other dads in the same boat you’re in. If you don’t, your wives certainly do. Swap business cards, email addresses, phone numbers. Get together with them in a venue that you’re comfortable in, set your own agenda if you want one, or elect to not have one at all.

I promise, you’ll find the time rewarding and find comfort in the friendships created

Go on, create your own fraternity.

If you want help getting a group started, drop me a line.

Joey
Joey@autismspot.com