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Growing In To It
Two years, three months, and 11 days ago, we sent our son away. We didn’t want to, and we did. It had been 11 years since Tim’s first diagnosis. Over those years there were 12 hospitalizations, 27 different med combinations, seven therapeutic day schools, one suicide attempt, six broken doors, nine different doctors, and a…
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Moving In To The Village
In August 1996, then First Lady Hillary Clinton addressed the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. It was the now famous, “It Takes a Village” speech. In it, she details how, while parents are a child’s first and primary teachers and role models, it takes everyone in the community to raise a healthy, happy child. I…
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Thanksgiving and a Teen Gift Guide
By Besimo – click for original on Flickr All I want for Christmas is the same kind of uneventful day we had for Thanksgiving. It’s been a few years since we’ve had an uneventful Thanksgiving, and I gotta admit, it was nice. We stayed in our PJ’s all day, cooked our turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed…
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Ekphrasis – Free Writing Based on an Image NBPHM / NaBloPoMo Day 22
Photo by ashleydoar I’ve seen this installation at the Art Institute of Chicago. It’s meant to represent the artist’s partner who died of AIDS; 175 pounds of candy, representing the partner’s body weight when he was healthy. Visitors are encouraged to take a piece of candy, representing how the disease ate away at him, and…
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Just A Friday Update, No Big Whoop – NBPHM / NaBloPoMo Day 18
Even with the holiday coming, it’s been a pretty good week for Tim. One rough morning earlier this week when he called Tom and said, “I’m hyper, I’m bouncing, I need you to talk me down,” Tom did. The staffing call – a quarterly round of BS that we have to endure to keep Tim’s…
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Deja Vu All Over Again
…My son Tim, who has a diagnosis of Schizoaffective Disorder, turns 18 in eight months, and he will age out of his current RTC placement. He won’t be graduating high school (read here about the Super Senior program), but we will have to decide whether he should come home or we should find another residential…
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It’s Not Easy – NHBPM / NaBloPoMo Day 15
I’ve posted this song before, so if you’ve been brave enough to have been reading my blog for the past three plus years, you’ve seen it posted before. But there is no song that better describes my little boy than this one. He is my Superman.
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My First Support For Special Needs Blog Post
….I know that I couldn’t be the advocate I need to be for my children without the non-judgmental support of these parents. I’ve even gotten to know some of the people I first met online in person. Having these men and women and these groups is the most valuable tool in my fight to keep…
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It’s Monday Again – NABPM / NaBloPoMo Day 14
So…another week begins. We spent time Thursday and Friday last week talking as a family about what’s going on with The Girl* and talking to her about what an evaluation is. We’d had a cocktail party scheduled for Saturday night for weeks and, while debating if we should cancel, we all decided not to. She…
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Screw It
I’m in a wickedly foul mood today. I don’t really have the time to be in this bad of a mood, but I am, and there’s very little I can do about it other than stew in my own bile for a while. At least until something else captures my attention away from feeling sorry…