Ah yes, it all goes to autism, aside from the corporate working environment Monday through Friday.
I will be taking a personal hiatus for a few months as I'm chairing an autism walk for a separate unaffiliated autism entity along with creating an Autism 5K in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Needless to say my hands are full and I'm struggling to find a work/life/autism balance.
I hope to be returning to blogging in November just in time for the chaos of the holidays!
;o)
Keep your chin up community!

Apologies for a very long absence…. The past few months have been nothing short of hectic and blogging fell by the wayside. I missed it tremendously. But as always, I had blogs mentally logged in my head and just needed time to get them to paper…er laptop.
We’ve seen some great strides of late.
Mason’s sense of humor has branched out tremendously. Last week, on two occasions, he stood before an audience at a family gathering and proudly told some jokes that he recently memorized online.

Beep Beep Beep.
Security Breached.
Mason has never been what many autism parents refer to as “a runner”. He tends to keep close to Rashele and I most of the time. As of late though, he’s had a growing curiosity with the flowers he and his siblings recently planted in the pots that reside on our front porch. His desire to water and observe them daily is a requirement.
Much to our dismay we recently discovered that Mason can now unlock both deadbolts on our front door and make a getaway.

Five years ago today we sat in a doctor’s office, arriving early for a 9am appointment. Mason was fidgety and nervous. Even at a young 19 months of age he didn’t care for doctors, nurses or anyone related with the staff despite how cheerful they were with him.
His defenses were up at all times.
Rashele had long suspected something was amiss in Mason’s progress. I, the clueless husband, shrugged it off assuming all was well and he was just going at his own pace.
He wasn’t.

I've never thought of myself as having a shortage of friends. While I would love to have more friends that I could go hang out with on a moments notice, I know that period in my life is long behind me. I've been blessed with some great lifelong friends that despite changes in our lives, if given the opportunity, could pick right up where we left off.

Every so often I manage to step out from under the shroud of autism, look at Mason and see glimpses of a completely typical 6 year old boy. Those times aren’t as often as I’d like and the dark times are pressing. I'm ashamed to admit that Autism has negatively impacted my faith over the course of the last few years
But then Mason restores it in small bits & pieces.

Mason has a fear of water.
We've been partially thankful for this for a long time. It does make summertime water activities a bit more of a challenge. We never have had to worry about Mason wandering off and heading for a body of water. It simply wasn't in him. It took an act of Congress just to get him into the baby pool. With his anxiety around it, getting him in the water is much like getting my wife on turbulent flight.
Since he's 6 now, we decided it was high time we enrolled him in some sort of lessons and help him overcome, or manage, his fear of water.

(I’ll admit I wrote this blog 3 weeks ago, but because of a busy work schedule didn’t have time to finish it until recently)
We thought it impossible.
But it had to be attempted.
Since Mason has had a pretty solid year in school, both in his mainstreamed class and his functional academics class we wanted to reward him. At the same time, we wanted to reward the kids whom, despite Mason’s regular reluctance to play with, have protected him, helped him, and befriended him since day 1.

With the birth last year of World Autism Awareness Day, thousands have learned what Autism is all about through our personal stories, FaceBook, media outlets, and community events.
In coming across many news stories from around the world today I felt uplifted. Maybe I’m being overly optimistic, but I feel….. at least today, that we’re finally getting somewhere.
Not everyone in the world knows what Autism is, nor do they know the burden it places on family, friendships, finances, and careers.
But WE do.

Mason has a new love interest.
He shuns us on school days as we wait at the bus stop, leaving us in the dust as he eagerly runs to his new love to whisper his sweet nothings.
The enthusiastic message is always the same.
“ I LIKE YOUR VALENTINES… THANK YOU FOR THE INVITATION “
The message is followed by a hug.
When we see his crush around town, he has to drop what he’s doing to talk, if only for a brief moment.
Today we saw her 4 times.
Once on the corner near our house.
Once in the parking lot near Old Navy.