January 27, 2015

[This post is the first in a series about looking back on aspects of my journey as a parent of an autistic child and how I feel about it now that my son is 20 years old.] * One thing you’ll find with most parents of children who have autism is that they always remember

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December 28, 2014

  [If you have not read Part 1 of this post, I encourage you to do so as it provides the background story as to why I would be seeking closure on a mountain.] For the second time in fifteen years, I was stuck on this mountain as the sun was going down. And then

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November 23, 2014

  I scramble over boulders, some the size of small cars. My legs slip in between them; I twist my ankles. Trying to hurry, I trip multiple times and scrape my shins, knees, and hands. My backpack, now empty of food and water, slides around my back each time I pitch forward. I climb lower,

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October 29, 2014

Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan was coined in 1988 at an advertising agency meeting. The founder of Wieden+Kennedy agency credits the inspiration for the slogan to the last words of Gary Gilmore (an American criminal who gained international notoriety for demanding the execution of his death sentence for two murders he committed). * I have been a writer for

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September 13, 2014

Part 3 in a series of posts about improving any type of relationship by practicing basic Buddhist teachings, based on a non-residential day retreat taught by the lamas at the Buddhist temple where I used to work. The six basic Paramitas (a word which means ‘going beyond’): generosity, ethics, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom.

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July 28, 2014

 There’s a ride at Disneyland that many of us have probably been on – The Haunted Mansion. I loved it from beginning to end, even though the first few times I went on it I was scared (but, you know, in a fun way). I always loved the end of the ride when the projector

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June 28, 2014

Part 2 in a series of posts about improving any type of relationship by practicing basic Buddhist teachings, based on a retreat taught by the lamas at the Buddhist temple where I work. The six basic Paramitas (a word which means ‘going beyond’): generosity, ethics, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom. For this series of

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May 26, 2014

If I had written this post just one week ago, it would have been titled “Transition Check-In: The Waiting Game,” because that’s where we were, where we have been, where we thought we would be for at least year two years, waiting for Neil’s HUD to go into effect. I thought we would have to

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April 29, 2014

Part 1 in a series of posts about improving any type of relationship by practicing basic Buddhist teachings * After almost 15 years of managing accounts in the fast-paced, demanding office of an order fulfillment company, I landed a job at the complete opposite end of the stress meter. For almost a year now, I

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March 23, 2014

 In the past week, I have met with a Vocational Rehabilitation counselor, written a visual support social story about going to doctor appointments, created multiple visual support schedules, and contacted an agency that provides long-term in-home support for people who need assistance meeting their needs. Last week, I left work and picked up my 19-year-old

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February 27, 2014

spe·cial adjective \ˈspe-shəl\ : of a particular kind : peculiar to a particular person, thing, or purpose : unusual, exceptional : especially important or loved –          New American Webster Dictionary Back in the days when I had time to write more than one post a month and actually read other peoples’ blogs, I came across

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January 11, 2014

My first pair of roller skates, a gift for my eighth birthday, looked very similar to the ones in the picture except the toe clamps on mine were a bit larger and covered with red vinyl. I loved having roller skates. We lived at the top of a hill in a suburban residential neighborhood in

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