Hard to believe that it has been almost 10 years since September 11th happened. I remember when I heard, my first thought was that it wasn't real. I really couldn't wrap my head around it. We were still living in the DC area. My stepson was in high school, my daughter was at elementary school, I was at home and my husband was in DC working that day. Interestingly enough, my husband rode his bike to work that day, which turned out to be one of the few ways out of town later. People were offering him money for his bike so they could get out of DC! Once he arrived home safely, we went over to my daughter's school which was a few miles from us. The school had decided to go into "lock down" mode and I can remember a group of us kind of wandering around the school trying to get our kids out and the doors being locked. The school finally released the kids after a bit and we were able to get our daughter and bring her home. She was only 5 at the time and kind of understood what was going on. It's a lot to explain to a kid that age. I recall our next door neighbor at the time telling me a friend of hers was in one of the towers, in the stairwell, but managed to get out. I can't even imagine what that must feel like, knowing that you made it out, but so many others didn't. That's a feeling you probably carry around with you every day. 9/11 is kind of like when JFK was shot. You will always remember what you were doing at that moment when you heard. I was less than 6 months old when JFK was shot so I don't remember what I was doing (my mom said I was in my playpen). As busy as everyone is these days, I think it is important to remember those who lost their lives that day even if it's just for a few moments.
When Dominic was diagnosed with Autism at 2 1/2, I went to our local library and took out every book I could find about Autism. Sometimes I would bring back 20 books. This was 2006, so a lot of the information was very "dated." I guess I was looking for a book that would tell me what I should do next, like a "manual." Autism doesn't quite work that way! The saying is, " if you know one person with Autism, you know one person with Autism." Every mom to an individual with Autism follows their own "path." I think as moms, we judge ourselves much harder than anyone else does. I was 41 when I had Dominic. Did he get the diagnosis of Autism because I was an older mom? because I drank a lot of pop? I could sit and think about that every minute of every day. I am pretty integrated into the Autism community around Lansing and have told more than one person that it took me about two weeks to come to terms with Dominic's diagnosis. It is so incredib...
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