I’m here. The internet was blown out by a fire a few towns away, but we’re back in business. It’s a busy day though, so let me just throw out a quick personal post and try to squeeze in a real post.
Since our daily lives are highly structured around the school year, we’ve all been tossed around by the new beginnings and transitions of the school regimen. Jonah is now a sophomore. Six inches taller than the year before. A baritone. With girls hovering around. In some ways, he’s an entirely different human being than his younger kid self. The three year old that never stopped smiling. Now he looks at us through the long shock of blond hair that swoops over his serious eyes. He helps us quiz Ian on social studies facts at the dinner table as an equal.
He’s mildly grumpy that the school gods put him in classes with unfamiliar faces, but that’s the way of the world in a large high school and he has to make that adjustment. Every day, I pick him up from the high school at 5 after his cross country practice and roll down the windows. Teenage boy stink sticks to the car seats.
Ian is in middle school. It’s the first time that he’s not been sheltered in an autism classroom. Now, he’s in the regular special ed classroom on the second floor of a very large, very loud, very disorganized school. There is little structure and support. The first couple weeks, he came home with t-shirts with large holes in the shoulders. He chews on his shirt when he’s stressed out. But for the past few days, he hasn’t come home wearing rags. He said he is starting to understand what’s he is supposed to do. It’s all a big test. Can Ian handle all this randomness? We’re on the sidelines cheering for him.
As the kids face these challenges, it’s very difficult to sit on the sidelines. Part of me wants to run onto the field and block the baddies and kick the ball for them. But I can’t run Jonah’s races. I can’t accompany Ian to class. The other part is very relieved to let the kids and their schools handle their own struggles. It’s nice to think about other things.
Apt. 11d 