full circle

I've been on the injured list for a spell of time.
Mentally it started with Katrina, as I knew a few folks down that way and had lived in Tampa, Florida for ten years and knew enough to know that many folks in New Orleans had no way to escape what they knew was coming. For a depressive alcoholic in recovery it was not a good thing.

Then after a tummy full of Dairy Queen on the way out to the car my feet did not do what feet are supposed to do and I took a header. Not down a slope, just on flat blacktop parking area, but hard onto my right shoulder. Was on the verge of going in to clinic and having them take a look, but remembering the eight week recovery time it took once before, I waited and grudgingly survived even though pain was everpresent.

For a time, I didn't keep up with journals nor did I make entries.

Now I am relatively pain free, except for the arthitis affecting my wrists and hands, which waxes and wanes according to the day and chance.

I am so happy you achieved your cross country move as well as you did and are making yourselves at home nicely./

I am especially encouraged with how well things are going for Damien, seems like he is in a veritable Garden of Eden of paradise for him at his age and stage. I do so hope things continue to go well for him.

I think of you and yours often, and have found that some of my friends have been reading you and of your experiences. One is Jeannie of Boynton Beach I think who has been reading you for ages.

Please do keep me on your various notify lists, I would consider it an act of courtesy and care for an old, decrepit man.

In April 2006 I will be 85 years old and hope to make a few years more in possession of all my faculties and ability to cope with the physical complications as they come.

Tamar, I consider it an honor to know you and of you and yours.

Fond regards,

Denver doug

I've been a reader of your online writing since shortly after Damian was diagnosed with autism. The last few entries in Hidden Laughter about his amazing progress have brought me to tears. I am so glad for him, so impressed with what your tenacity in advocating for him has wrought.

Your family is a bright spot for me within what I used to think of the special education system in our nation's public schools. Thanks for sharing Damian's journey with us.

(And hey, congrats on the move! Like you, we're considering a return to the homeland after several years cross-country. You make it sound like a fantastic idea, even though your home is New York and environs, and mine is the remote Ozark mountains. Home, after all, is always home.)

Wow! This is good to read. May it last!

Way to go Damian! This is so great to hear, and must make it feel like you made the absolute right decision to move, if it hadn't felt that way anyway.

I origiannly contacted because the arc of Damien's story was so much like my eldest son's, and it continues. Will's progress always seemed to come in large developmental leaps, and I think that is the case with Damien. I don't think it is only the change of school. I suspect it also has to do with the 3-4 months growth that took place, and all that he has processed in relation to this move.
I also think if you went for a diagnosis today, with someone who knew nothing of his history, he would not likely be diagnosed as autistic.
I was told this about my son, that autism was his diagnosis right now (age 4) but it probably wouldn't always be. He is a senior in high school, doing well in school, will probably be captain of his high school basketball team.He is on the honor roll and a member of the national Honor Society. He is socially more than a bit awkward, terrified of girls,and I am worried about him going off to college, but he has a few good friends, enjoys them, and is pretty happy with his life, and no one who doesn't know his story would ever think autism was a part of his story.
I know I am lucky, and this is not the norm for autistic kids, but it is a possibility.