Affirmative Friday
Our autism journey

I went over the day with Owen, what to expect, and where he was going. He already knew it. He was actually ready for his day when he went to bed the night before. He woke in the middle of the night, got into bed, and promptly started talking about the coffee shop. He has a cafe app on his tablet that he loves. Little animals come in, they sit down, and he makes them their food. When they come through the door, Owen says, “knock knock we’ve got customers”. He also loves the real coffee shop that I will take him to before our bowling trips on Saturday. Every day I laugh a little bit more about how much Owen loves “bowWing”. It makes me so excited. I used to watch bowling, and wrestling with my Grammy as a child. I was on a bowling team; that makes me sound like I was good at it. And for years I have carried socks in my purse in case someone asked me to go bowling, and I heels on; no one ever did. So one day I decided bowling would be the thing for us to do together. Bowling alleys are loud already, so what if Owen screamed, I thought, but I also worried about it the sound would bother him. We went to watched a few times, and then we played, we actually bowled, and he loved it. Now he asks about it every day. Last night he found a video where the one character was asking the other one if they wanted to go bowling. When Owen has joy I have joy. Yesterday I was having a really emotional day, my own little pity party. Exhaustion, and a million other things seeped into my core, setting my emotions on their own rollercoaster ride. Today I feel better, trying to put in a new plan of action in motion. Owen was so happy when we left for the bus, talking about his teacher, saying her name over, and over again. Autism is as much about how I handle it, as it is about Owen having it. One day at a time, and sometimes I remind myself to breathe. Find your sunshine in life, celebrate the victories, and soar. Smiles to all and donut daze!
