Lessons Learned in My Closet

I received a message today from a mom who has an autistic son the same age as Alex. Here’s part of what she said, “Please. Tell me what you do to make him so happy. How do you do it? How are you able to take him anywhere and everywhere and always have fun? I don’t get it. I feel like a failure. I’m a terrible mom. Seems we can hardly go anywhere. What do I do?” Let me first say a few things before I get to the heart of the matter. Alex IS a happy young man. There’s nothing I did to make him that way. Is it luck? A blessing? Genetics? Personality? All of the above? I don’t know. We are so incredibly fortunate to not have behavior struggles, but it isn’t because I did some magical “thing”. I’ve loved and cared for him the best way I’ve known how. That’s it. Just because he doesn’t struggle with aggressive or severe behavior doesn’t mean he doesn’t struggle. As a family, we have struggles. Just like every other family in the world. We selectively present the best versions of ourselves and...