April is Autism Awareness Month

Autism.

My son.

Sandis.

All of him.

Autism has touched my life through Sandis.

Sandis is joy. He is smiles. He is boogers and ice cream and tongues. His name means festive or joyous. He brings joy to all around him.

Bob once in conversation with my auntie told her: “Sandis can be frustrating at times, but in the next instant he does the coolest thing, and you forget about that frustration.”

The coolest things. My son.

Sometimes it feels like the world and autism are in conflict. Big, loud, bright stores. Bigger, louder, brighter people. Pre-defined concepts of normal.

Sandis is festive and joyous and beautiful and he has autism

What do I want people to know about autism?

My son smiles. My son loves. My son talks. My son runs and jumps. My son laughs. Sometimes my son laughs at you. My son is a child and he is beautiful and he has an autism spectrum disorder. Autism is not always what you expect and it is never what you expect.

You have now met one child with autism. You have now met one mother who has a child with autism.

We love and we are loved and we live and we experience life in the same ways that you do, sometimes it just looks different.

I invite you any day to walk with us on our path and see what it entails. It is a journey we never expected and never asked for, but in many ways we are blessed to have. I can not say all families that are touched by autism would feel this way. I can only speak for my family. And we have found love, joy, happiness, festiveness, acceptance, patience, and then even more love in our journey with autism.

Our journey with Sandis.

One of the most wonderful and blessed journeys of all.