In May, I posted some of my favorite quotes about motherhood and how I’ve come to see motherhood with a vastly different perspective in the years since Ethan was diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, in my post Mother Love. I thought it would be fun to put together a similar post for Father’s Day, because I can guarantee that my husband now views “fatherhood” differently than before, too.
Let’s start with a little humor…
A father carries pictures where his money used to be. ~Author Unknown
Now this one made me Laugh Out Loud! My instinct tells me that the phrase was probably written by someone raising a typical child or teenager with standard needs and expenses. But, raising a child with ASD is exponentially more expensive! I know many parents who have sold their homes, emptied savings and college accounts, used up retirement savings and still went into debt to pay for necessary therapies, interventions, special diets and treatments. While this isn’t funny – in the least – it is humorous (I think) in the sense that I stumbled across this quote and thought to myself, “Awww, sweet Mr. ‘Author Unknown’ probably doesn’t know the half of it!”
But in all seriousness, “fatherhood” is much, much more than a fat wallet or a hefty paycheck.

“What do you mean?”
“Get to the point?”
“Are you being sarcastic?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Are you joking?”
We hear these questions all the time. Why? Because we constantly use inferences, humor, sarcasm, slang and non-literal language to communicate. The style of language we use paints an auditory picture of our personalities. It helps make us who we are. The tricky thing is, some people have a difficult time interpreting non-literal language, especially those with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

A guy getting hit in the crotch with a football is funny (unless that guy is you of course). Every time. I think it’s hard-wired in the brain, at least for males. Perhaps it’s a caveman mentality holdover – we have lots of these, by the way. A rival who receives reproductive trauma might not end up as a rival at all, at least in the genetic rat race. Those cavemen were pretty sophisticated.

Somehow, Isabella has got a natural vacuum in her head. No, not literally – them’s fighting words! Rather, somebody, somewhere, discussed “natural vacuums,” and now it’s stuck.
“Natural means nobody made it,” she told me the other day. “Except for God.”
“Right,” I said, that being the correct reply to the majority of her questions.
“A natural vacuum is a vacuum that no one made.”

We noticed a few months ago that Mason despite his disability has a keen sense of humor underneath what some would assume at first glance to be a rather unemotional exterior.
I mentioned last week about our daily Q & A to go over the days events. Most days it’s met with the standard answers, but on occasion, when Mason’s mood is well above average he’ll interject his own series of silliness and humor.
Today for example:
Me: “Mason WHO did you eat lunch with today?”
Mason: Giggling…..”Ducks”