Journey continuted..

In the 6 years and 17 days (actually 6 years 363 days as of today) since Daniel's official diagnosis on April 11, 2002, we've watched Daniel progress from a child who was barely verbal with behaviors that were glaringly autistic to the trained eye - strange and eccentric to the untrained eye - to a highly verbal, incredibly bright child who has astounded everyone with his growth and capacity for learning. We've watched those who were unsure or afraid of his presence simply due to his Autism label be captured by his personality and fall deeply in love with him, and begin to advocate for him along with me. We've watched him charm strangers, opening doors for us to educate them about autism, and about the awesome Hand of God in his life.

Daniel is an incredible, strong little boy who still loves trains (although he's a little embarrassed to play with his Thomas toys now - he hides in his room to play with them), Hot Wheels cars, and Bionicles. He loves his big brother, displays compassion and empathy, enjoys humor, makes eye contact, excels in the classroom (with help from his amazing IEP team), loves music and dancing. He tells me I'm his best friend, and compliments strangers on their hair styles. He brings me dandelion flowers insisting I put them behind my ear, then tells me I look like a 'real girl'. A few years ago, after I'd had a pretty drastic haircut, he told me, "Nice hair, Mom. Pity about your face, though." He'd echoed it from a movie, but generalized it appropriately. I was thrilled.

We still have a long way to go on our journey. It's the journey of a lifetime; a long, long road. Autism always is. We still see delays and deficits. We see splinter skills and weaknesses. The wonderful thing about long journeys on long, long roads is that when you're tired or frustrated, you can stand in the middle of that road, and instead of looking at how very far you've left to go, you can turn around and see how very far you've come. We have so many wonderful blessings. We have so many joyous memories, so many little victories that we took the time to notice and applaud, and we know that many more will come. Autism gave us that.

Autism gave us the ability to notice things that many parents don't see - simply because life gets in the way. Autism gave us eyes that see that miracles aren't always earth shaking events. Miracles can be tiny, and silent, but no less heart soaring. We also know that we'll still face obstacles, ignorance, and probably even bullies. We know Daniel may face discrimination. We know people who have no tolerance for differences. But we know we will overcome it all together. We'll discover new ways of laughing and caring that many people are never blessed enough to find. For that, I am so grateful.