After many years of therapy appointments and careful explanations to teachers, friends and family…we have reached the last stop.
Our wonderful OT, who has seen T
immy since 2008, broke the news to me gently. “I think, Kristen, that we’ve done all we need to do with Timmy. What do you think?”
You would think I would be jumping up and down, right? Cheering at the top of my lungs, right? Because, really, he IS ready. I know it, his teacher knows it, we all know it. Woo hoo!!
And I am sooooo proud of him, this little boy with gorgeous blue eyes and his mischievous grin, who truly is more NORMAL than autistic, just like his big brother before him. We are so blessed. We have been that different family since 1996. Had Birth to Three appointments from 2005-2007, and filled out so many clipboards. It truly is the end of an era.
And yet, I will miss my OT, who is a calming influence on an intense mama who needed to hear positive thoughts and believe in better days ahead. And I will miss that HUGE happiness each time he mastered something, finally “got it”, later than other kids maybe, but three times as joyful because we knew how hard it was to get there.
Some of my mixed feelings are for my friends who are still going to be making those appointments and working so hard to believe in that brighter future. Because, you know, we are one of the lucky fams. For some moms, who have done all the therapies we have tried, the outcomes are not as hopeful. And I know that even as they rejoice with me over Timmy’s success…their hearts still break over the daily struggles that continue for them.
But today, let’s just hear it for Timmy, who at 7 is ready to rock-n-roll, sit with the big dogs on the big porch, and tackle what life sends his way. I wonder what his mama will do, now that she doesn’t have so many appointments on her calendar!?
Tags: autism, midlife, OT
