The answer should be yes. Not "how can I get my loved one help?"

Category Archives: thinking of the family.

Section 1 – About a father

Thinking of my family at this late hour.  It is 1am here.  2am back home. I am on vacation and can’t sleep.  All but one family member is at home in Casa de Familia.

I was working a night job delivering newspapers.  One night I happened to deliver to a business that had an old friend working.  I had worked with this person in a previous job when I was still in high school.  I wanted to date her more than I wanted anything in this life. I wanted to show her that men are not all assholes like her ex-husband and the other riffraff that she went out with.  One night, she invited me to a Christmas party at a hotel with some friends.

It so happens that I had my daughter that weekend.  What better way to woo a woman than to introduce a small child.  So I showed up at the pool party with my daughter.  Spent some time frolicking in the pool, sat in the hot tub.  The woman I had designs on asked me for a favor.  Actually, her girlfriends asked me for a favor.  Seems like one of them had an employee Christmas party to attend that evening.  Would I be willing to take her to the party?

The offer included free babysitting services.

Being the gentleman that I considered myself to be, I agreed.  Of course, I was thinking that this would show my intended that I was a good guy that she could trust.  I went home to change.

Later at the party, I discovered many people that I knew.  Mostly family.  But I discovered one very important thing.

 Want to read more? Part 2 is here.

How do you do it? and a Thank You

That is the question the psychiatrist asked me today.

You have your youngest who pushes limits and senses by verbal and physical action, and you have boys with autism who don’t tolerate the sensory input.

“Don’t all children deserve to be loved?” was my response.  “Isn’t it worth it to see them smile and return a hug? ”

We are met with daily challenges, heck, any parent is.  But as parents of children with special needs, our daily challenges are a cut above the rest.  Do we hesitate? Do we turn tail and run away? No.  We embrace the challenges and welcome the new day.  We welcome each new day with the hope that there will be a breakthrough of some kind that will allow our child to have a glimmer of success that they might not have had before this.

As parents of special children, we also know that every day is a success.  Every opportunity to be with our children, to see them grow, to delight in the little miracles of their day is a special treat.  It beats the largest bonus that we could ever hope to get in the corporate world.

As WhyNotFathers.com celebrates its first month of existence, we say thank you to those who have helped mold us to be the people we are today.  We say, “extend a thank you to all of those special kids in our lives who show us that what we are doing is worth more than any wage.”

To our kids, thank you, seeing the joy in your triumph is like celebrating a thousand sunny days.  To our wives, thank you for trusting your job to us.  Thank you for your faith in us.

>Sleep time

>M apologized to someone in his sleep. 🙂 He and I sleep in the same room. So that we can keep track of what he is doing. So I wake up when he moves around, most of the time. Such a sweet heart. Wish that this part of him could take over the awake part of his life. Ah well, he wouldn’t be the little boy we love without those day time qualities no matter how frustrating they can be.

I can hear T giggling at something on his tv. T if I haven’t said, has Autism. He is high functioning, but lacks social skills, and filters. He is my mini-me. We spent the day together, and he slept for about half of it, while we were in the car. (fell asleep reading a book about the Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln, which I know he has read at least twice.)

The little angels. Thinking of Mom and C in Bismarck for the Cleft Palette Clinic. Hope they enjoy the break from home. Tomorrow K has basketball, M has another psych appointment, I have an appointment as well for a lump in my arm, and E our oldest is coming with to drive in the event they have to remove the lump. I have such a wonderful family.