When I began to face that Callum was on the spectrum, I reached out to her. It wasn’t until last year that our friendship took on new meaning for us both. ( Read her story.) And, though we were friends, I didn’t truly understand her pain and isolation. Her journey raising a special-needs child began in 2001, with a CMV affected child. I believe that we both endured a summer of algebraic torture in college simply because the two little souls who were destined to affect our lives would one day be arriving.Ĭhristy has been on this road for longer than me. Her name is Christy and, though neither of us ever dreamed years ago we would find ourselves on a similar path, she is now the reason I believe in destiny – that certain people are simply meant to find one another. That kind of friendship and sisterhood/brotherhood is intimate indeed. That part of me is only accessible to those who know. (You guys know who you are, and I love you.)īut there is a part of my heart now that even they do not have access to – that part that toddles around, smiling and flapping away, still happily oblivious to the difficulties facing him. lol) They have tolerated me obsessing, repeating myself, forgetting to ask about their lives, and every other way I have slacked off in the friendship department over the past year. (It’s even worse when you are a librarian. I have dear, dear friends who have kept me sane throughout the last year of panic, paralyzing fear, occasional depression, sometimes regression, moments of joy, and my inevitable obsession with learning more about my child’s condition.

For, no matter how much your friends love you, there are some things in life that you cannot possibly understand until you have experienced them. Friendship takes on a whole different meaning when your life is affected by ASD – or any crisis or special-needs issue that affects your child. But what I have really learned the most about is friendship. Lessons about isolation, humility, frustration, real fear, unconditional love, what’s important, patience, gratitude, and so very much more. I’m learning more than I ever wanted to know these days.

Love life be brave meaning