Remembrance Day Autism Style
Managing Editor's Note: Yesterday was Remembrance Day in Canada and other Commonwealth countries. Also called Poppy Day, it remembers those who sacrificed in war.
By Lisa Dea
I Remember....
I remember when life was simple, and fun...and easy.
I remember when a laugh was cute and not a triumph. When sharing a quiet book before bed was, well, normal.
I remember when dinner could mean take out on Fridays, when casein was a foreign word and gluten was only in bread. Baking wasn't a science experiment and forgetting to read the label meant pink sock not meltdowns.
I remember taking for granted a casual glance or a hug, or just a smile.
Ahhhhhh.....I remember sleep.
I remember when moms were moms rather than self-taught medical researchers. When wars were waged on battlefields, not doctors offices and hero's gave up their lives, not their careers....and reputations.
I will remember that life is not over, just changed.
I will remember that communication doesn't just come in the form of words...and that there is always a silver lining, even if you have to find it with a microscope.
I will remember to fight everyday, but to also find peace at the end of it.
And, I will remember to dream, and to hope....and to believe.
Lisa Dea lives in Vancouver with her family.
Lisa. You write beautifully!
I have known your family since before your lovely son was diagnosed. I have watched you and your family sacrifice, empower, educate, support and cheer on everyone. Your whole family are heros in my book. Well done! Keep doing what you are doing, we "outsiders" celebrate the small victories with you.
Posted by: Marnie Kushnerenko. | November 14, 2011 at 08:25 PM
Lisa,thank you, keep writing,you have excellent insights and
you bring understanding to these complex feelings.Life had
changed...so much.
Posted by: oneVoice | November 12, 2011 at 10:04 PM
I love your piece, Lisa Dea. It is so well articulated and thought out. It will most certainly serve to be thought provoking to those on the outside looking in. It will also most certainly serve to be supportive to those on the inside, living what you have written here, on the same path. Thank you very much, from someone on the inside. God bless and Godspeed.
Posted by: Lin | November 12, 2011 at 08:56 PM
Thank you Lisa, for expressing what many of us feel. God bless.
Alice
Mom to Jamie (14 with severe regressive ASD)and Joshua (4 and mature beyond his years)
Posted by: Alice | November 12, 2011 at 08:44 PM
http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/10/8734910-kawasaki-disease-may-be-blowing-in-the-wind-researchers-say
See if this goes through. I don't think the last one did.
Posted by: Benedetta | November 12, 2011 at 08:00 PM
Well today the Dr Jane Burns "the Kawasakis expert" in California who has tried to make it a genetic ---tried and tried hard has finally decided it might be environmental.
Yes, it is seasonal winds she says:
http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/10/8734910-kawasa
ki-disease-may-be-blowing-in-the-wind-researchers-say
Yes winds that blow from Novemeber to March. She says she always thought it was climatic since it was a seasonal thing.
Seasonal? I had one come down with Kawasakis on July the fourth.
I had the other come down with it in April and again in May and again in June. So I suggest they look at the DPT shot they both had seven weeks pior??????
Posted by: Benedetta | November 12, 2011 at 07:57 PM
Lisa,
I know that the love that you and your family have for your son is deep and unabiding. You are all in our prayers and thoughts as you face the daily challenges. May you continue to find that inner source strength and peace that are so needed.
Bill And Miriam
Posted by: Bill Terry | November 12, 2011 at 03:41 PM
We do not know often whether the people who start wars on our behalf always do it truly in the common interest. We are living with the concept of a war on disease with our children the collateral damage, maimed if not killed, forgotten by others, if not by us.
Posted by: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori | November 12, 2011 at 01:49 PM
Thank-you Lisa Dea! Your style of writing speaks to so many and is such a nice way to inform people. I like that it is done in a way to help people to think about the issues that we live with and possibly...just possibly...relate to what it is like for us parents on a day-to-day basis when we have a child who lives with autism. Nice job!
Posted by: Tina Patterson | November 12, 2011 at 01:27 PM