Teen Autism

I’ve been getting a lot of “How are you?”s lately from friends and family. It’s sort of like when I was going through my separation twelve years ago – the same concern is there, the wishing they could help, the commiserating over things not going according to plan. I had hoped to share some of the school year custody with Nigel and Aidan’s dad by moving to where he lives, and that, as most of you know, didn’t happen. At this point, the bottom line is nothing new. I’ve been doing this (full-time single parenting) for nine years, and I guess I can just keep doing it. But I will tell you this – it doesn’t get easier. The boys don’t get up much during the night now of course, but the days. Oh, man, the too-full days just about kill me. The strain just builds and builds. By now I feel like I’ve got a piano on my back.

For most of this year (and some of last), I had been searching for a life coach, just wanting help in figuring out how to approach my life so that I would feel less overwhelmed. I’d read about various life coaches on friends’ blogs and would come across a few online, but none of them felt right for me. One day a few months ago, Eithne left a comment on one of my posts. She linked to her website, and as soon as I clicked over, I knew that she was the one.  Through her excellent coaching I am learning to prioritize my life according to what I value, and I definitely feel that I now have the tools to enable myself to feel less overwhelmed. To anyone looking for a life coach, I highly recommend her!

She also helped me to figure something out. You see, several months ago, I had this gut feeling. I just knew that it was the right time to put my house on the market. There was no doubt in my mind, and I felt confident in doing so. It was all about the timing – I knew that I was supposed to do it. But I thought it was because I was supposed to move to L.A. this year. I thought that the timing was right for that. Of course, the house didn’t sell in the time frame that I needed it to. And at first I was crushed – how could that not come together? I just knew that the timing had been right to put it on the market. I had been so sure. But wait. It turns out that the timing was right to put the house on the market when I did. Why? Oh, you’re going to love this! Because I am now dating my real estate agent! That’s right! After not dating for almost two years, it’s so nice to enjoy that again. And it’s great to have that gut feeling turn out to be right after all.

Last, but certainly not least, I recently received a lovely new (or new to me) blog award:

Isn’t it cool? I love the design. And I also love the cool blog from whence it came: Big Daddy Autism. Thanks, Big Daddy! If you haven’t checked him out yet, head on over there for some much-needed humor and some thought-provoking posts.

Apparently in accepting this award, I must reveal seven things about myself. So I’ll follow Big Daddy’s example and mention the following:

1) I have two tattoos, a tiger and a Celtic knot. The tiger has been on my arm for ten years, and it’s really beautiful. During the summer I receive many compliments on both of them.

2) I have written and published a novel, and I’m (slowly) working on my next one.

3) My eyes are green with gold flecks in them.  Sometimes they appear to be hazel.

4) I have driven the same car for over ten years, and it feels like an extension of myself. I love it like I would a horse.

5) My favorite hobby is winetasting. So much so that I wanted to put a bocce court in my backyard because it’s the only sport you can play and not have to put down your wine glass.

6) I have sustained three major injuries from one of my other hobbies – snowboarding. I can assure you that no wine was involved, although it certainly was afterward.

7) I drink green smoothies every morning for breakfast. A green smoothie in the morning and a glass of wine at night – it’s all about balance!

There you have it. I’d do the tagging thing, but I have a big IEP meeting tomorrow morning (more on that next week), and must use the rest of my evening to prepare. You know how it is.

Cheers, everyone!

This entry (Permalink) was posted on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at 11:11 pm and is filed under Awards, parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site.