Looking back.....

I had the amazing opportunity to go out last night with a group of girls who all have kids who have Autism.  It's honestly one of those places that I love to go and chat about all things Autism and spend time hearing how far kids have come, and what's new and what are they doing next.  We also drink wine, so that's a plus, because really, everything is better when a glass of wine is involved. And Sarah ordered Wedges, so that was good too.

One thing stuck me last night. I was telling stories. About some of the most horrific things that have happened over the last....6 years.
Some only in the last few weeks.
Like, J turning all the knobs to full on the stove while the lunchboxes were sitting on top and D coming out of the house yelling "there's smoke, there's smoke,grab your phone we need to get out". This did mean that a fire truck was called. And fortunately there is only a little bit of plastic burnt to my stovetop and that's the extent of the damage which is miraculous because there was a lot of smoke! But sadly the story I told didn't end there, it ended at about midday, when I picked D back up from school after he had decided a teacher was the best thing to take his heightened state out on, by punching, kicking her and pulling her hair. Then punching the lady who came to assist the original teacher. All because his "plan" of the game he was going to play was ruined by a piece of school equipment being broken.
Or going back to the time J was little and still in a pram. D took off in Target to find me, and by the time my mum had turned the pram around he was out of sight.  A lady followed him out of Target and stopped him when he got halfway down the mall because no adult was following him.
Or the time D ran off when J was just a baby at an Australia Day big breakfast. While all the other kids from our Mum's group (who I love and adore, just as an aside) seemingly sat beautifully whilst we ran around thousands of people looking for him.  Getting a phone call from the "lost childrens tent" because we had thought to write our phone number on his arm if such an event were to occur.

I guess my point is, the time my mother in law told me about had come. (Yes, I did just acknowledge that my mother in law was right. I know that would be a shock to some people) It was no longer about the deep emotions that I felt at the time - though I can vividly remember them - but it had become about the story. 

And I did one of two things for the lovely lady of whom it was her first time with us. I either scared her off for good, or alternatively, she thinks that if I can survive that amount of crap, then this is a good group to be in.

I really hope it's the second one :)

Kelly xx