"Every day is a new day." I had a teacher who would say this every morning at the start of class. We thought this was unoriginal to say the least. Wasn't it obvious that "every day is a new day" when the name of the day changed, the date changed, the fact we went home and came back wearing different clothes...it's not like this was news to us. We were 12 years old and at 12 you know everything. What's the point in always acknowledging this simple fact?

Maybe this statement of habit, this mantra he would repeat to himself wasn't so pointless after all. Let's move beyond the obvious reasons we often say this. The typical parenting statements:

"Maybe tomorrow you can play your video game. Today you made some bad choices and it is going away. Tomorrow is a NEW DAY. Make better choices and you get your game back."

"You are tired and math is not easy. Let's take a break for the day and start again tomorrow. It will be a new day and you can get this."

"I'm sorry she is dating your best friend. Tomorrow is a new day and there are plenty of girls to meet."

We treat the statement as if 'tomorrow' is going to bring us unbelievable super powers and the ability to change the world....all challenges will fade away. We often use the statement to make others feel better...or get us out of sticky situations. Although the super powers may not arrive come morning light...the ability to change our little part of the world does come with the rising of the morning sun.

Autism doesn't grant you the freedom to run and hide (although many times that is what we feel like doing). I have friends who have run from their jobs due to stress, run from their marriages because of difficult times, run from their families because the load became to great to manage. Sometimes, there are parents who run from their child who has Autism. They say they are running from Autism and what it has done to them, their family, their work, their life. They long to wake up to a new day of freedoms. Seems to always be about them and not anyone else. No easy way around this....they are running from their child. That child will grow into a pre-teen, a teenager, and someday soon they will be an adult. Will their child wake up one morning following in their footsteps and run from those they love?

When things don't work out as planned, you have to get back up and continue the journey. Sometimes the path is altered a bit, the horizon blocked by fog.....that's when you seek out those beacons in your life. The shining stars who will help you find your way when lost. We like to think we can go it alone. But, we need the strength of those who love us and care about us to lift us up to see what's ahead. We have a need to feel like we are needed, necessary, and belong.

It was a few days into the school year of 7th grade that my teacher started saying, "Every day is a new day." Just weeks before, my Dad came into my room to tell me something important. With tears in his eyes, he looked at me sitting on the edge of my bed and told me Mom had Multiple Sclerosis. He explained how the MS was causing some of the problems she was having. He proceeded to share other details and information. He said MS would drastically change her life, our life and I would need to step things up a bit. My young mind could only hold so much. How I wished tomorrow would come and all this would be a dream. I wanted to go to bed and wake up to a new day without these fears. Many years later, Angie and I stood in the doctors office and heard the diagnosis of Autism. Our little baby, with such future and promise, had been diagnosed with Autism. MS and Autism...two disorders with no known cause and so many unanswered questions. Two days that have helped set the course of my life. These were far from ordinary days. As with MS, I have learned that Autism requires an attitude change. I had to step things up a bit....just like Chief had told me when I was young.

We can't predict what the future will hold or what tomorrow will bring. Living each day like it is special is so important. Every day is a new day and we must make the decision to give it our all. When we wake tomorrow morning there will be the expected and the unexpected. Today, we can make the decision that we will give tomorrow our all.

Every day is a new day.