Posts Tagged "facebook"

Tasty Tuesday Roundup 8/23/11

Posted by wendy on Aug 24, 2011 | 1 comment

What a Tasty Tuesday yesterday was!  We enjoyed a lot of late summer treats, including these awesome lemon-blueberry pancakes from Heather’s Dish, this refreshingly tart Key Lime pie from Epicurious, and this really yummy honey baked chicken from All Recipes (and I will admit I added some dijon mustard to the grownups’ pieces for an extra kick).

I also made some super yummy fruit pops – I put bananas, peaches, blueberries, a bit of kale and some bananaberry juice in the blender and froze it in popsicle molds.  The kids love them.

I’m so thankful Jack has been adventurous in his eating lately, and is really excited when I make new things.  It’s a challenge, but one I can deal with.  Especially since I get to eat new things, too.  Yay!

Bridging the Gap

Posted by wendy on Aug 22, 2011 | 0 comments

I’m sorry I’ve been kid of awol here lately.  Between the demands of summer and my husband’s new job training that’s had him away from the house from dawn to bedtime, things have been a bit hectic.  I’ve also been spending a lot of time over on Facebook, tending to the Autism is A Trip page and community there.

We have a great group of people and pages (875 at the time of this writing), and there’s a lot of love and support happening every day.  In addition to sharing what I write here and articles I find interesting and/or informative, I also have “theme” days to focus on specific topics:  Tasty Tuesday (recipes and websites for yummy, healthy, natural eating), Wednesday Woots (Facebook pages/groups I recommend), and Focus Friday (a moment of Zen, if you will).  I’d like to add two more days, one to highlight therapies/interventions, and one for self-care for parents of special needs children.

I’m going to continue to post everything on Facebook, but from now on I’ll bring it here as well.   I want my friends on this site, Twitter, Facebook and beyond to have one place to find all of the important things.

I’m working on some other changes to the site to come over the next few weeks.  In the meantime, thanks for your patience.  I’m off to write now – Jack has been quite the inspiration this summer.

One Year Later…

Posted by wendy on Mar 15, 2011 | 0 comments

Autism is A Trip is one year old today.  Well, it was on the 12th, when I started writing this.  Before my youngest child pulled a bunch of keys off my laptop keyboard.  Before my sinus headache eased enough for me to look at the screen long enough to type.  Before… well, life continued to happen.

Life does just keep on moving on like that, doesn’t it?  I suppose if I wait for the “perfect” time to do anything, the time will never come.  I’m finding more and more that the “perfect” times happen when you least expect them, and are often perfect only in retrospect.

Anyway, it has been an eventful year since I started this endeavor.  I have learned much, gained perspective, and continued to laugh.  I have met amazing people I might never have connected with otherwise, and I have realized there are a lot of parents out there in autism-land like me.

Parents who are struggling, but making it work somehow.  Parents who hate and love the challenges they’ve been given by their “special” children.  Parents who desperately want to laugh, because sometimes the alternative is just too much to bear.

Thank you to everyone who has joined my journey of love and laughter.  I am deeply touched by every single person who has taken the time to comment here or on Facebook, or to contact me directly.  Together we are community, together we are strong.

I look forward to many more years of sharing the craziness of my life.  As always, I’m so glad you’re here.

I Forgot to be Sad

Posted by wendy on Jan 16, 2011 | 1 comment

Someone said something that struck me in my heart of hearts last night.  I was chatting with several people about  Temple Grandin on Facebook, and realized that evidently she is not as well-known here in Canada as she is in the USA.

Dr. Temple Grandin, for those of you unfamiliar, is an amazing autistic individual who inspired a HBO movie starring Claire Danes.  Her story has, in my opinion, almost completely changed the autism conversation.  She is a brilliant person who has broken barriers as a woman, as a scientist and as a person with autism.

Claire Danes has won many accolades for her portrayal of Temple, and she just received a Golden Globe at this year’s ceremony.  One of my Canadian friends pointed out that while the movie seemed to be winning a lot of awards, she had no idea who or what Temple Grandin is.  I was surprised.  In the United States, Temple’s story has been heralded for over a year now.  In Canada, however, HBO is not as pervasive as it is in the US, and a lot of their programming gets lost in the shuffle. 

After I explained who Temple is, another commenter joined in.  “She has autism?  That’s so sad.”

This comment struck me sharply and immediately.  To begin with, it was obvious to me that this person, who did not know me or my experiences with autism, had no idea what Temple has accomplished.  To use the word “sad” in the same sentence with her seemed completely off to me. 

Then I realized that this comment was affecting me much more than just abashment at someone not understanding the greatness of Temple Grandin.  The immediate need to feel sadness for someone with autism, without knowing anything else, brought tears to my eyes. 

Autism sucks.  Autism is stressful, it is chaotic, it is nerve-wracking.  Autism can quickly turn an easy day hard and render simple outings impossible.  Autism affects entire families, not just individuals, and it is selfish.

And yes, for a lot of families, autism is devastating.  There are individuals so locked inside themselves they cannot have meaningful relationships or lead productive lives without elaborate intervention. 

For a lot of us, though, autism is also a magical, wonderful thing.  Autism has given my child the eyes to see things no one else around him can see.  Autism has helped me reach inside myself and find wells of patience I didn’t think I possessed.  Autism has made our family flexible, but stronger than I ever could have imagined.

When I realized for the first time that Jack was, in fact, autistic, I cried.*  I raged at the loss of a life that never was, never would be.  I stayed in a cocoon for several days and emerged transformed, looking at the world in a new light.  It’s been just over two years since we got his “official” diagnosis, and now autism has a cozy spot in our home.  Autism is an unlikely passenger in our lives, one we never expected to join us, but one we couldn’t imagine not having around now.

And somewhere along the way I forgot to be sad.   I think it’s shocking to me that someone’s initial reaction to autism is sadness, but then, they don’t know my child.  They don’t know my life.  Their eyes haven’t been opened to the things we see every day and used to overlook.

*Read “Jack’s Story” for the entire story

A Little Light Housekeeping

Posted by wendy on Jan 5, 2011 | 0 comments

I just realized the subscription form to the right wasn’t working.  It’s up and running now, so if you’d like to receive updates via email, go sign up! 

There’s also something amiss with the email system here and I’m not getting emails addressed to Wendy@AutismisATrip.com.  I’m working to get that fixed, so if you’ve sent me an email I haven’t responded to, well, now you know why.  Until further notice, please either leave comments here on the site or contact me through the Facebook page. 

Is there anything else you’d like to see here?  It’s January cleaning time!