Sometimes Help Comes When You Least Expect It

As you all know, we've been struggling lately, trying to control Nathan's meltdowns and outbursts.  Although they've gotten less frequent recently, they still happen and are so unpredictable.

Last week was a particularly long week.  There was a lot going on at work, I had gotten several bad reports from school, including a call from the principal.  I was basically just making through each day.  When I go to work, I try to leave all of that at home and not take it with me.

There is one person I work with who just always seems to know when something is going on at home.  He has an older son with autism and has an uncanny knack of coming up and asking me if everything is okay when it's not.  I usually only see him a couple of times a week and last week he came up to me on a rough day and said, "What's the matter?" I thought I was hiding my sadness and frustration pretty well.

I started to tell him about what's been going on with Nathan.  He didn't offer any suggestions or magic pills or try to solve my problems.  He just held my hand with tears in his eyes as I told him what was going on.  Then he gave me a hug and said, "You're strong, you're doing what you need to do.  Keep doing it." It was so nice to be able to talk to someone who understood.  To let down that curtain that everything is fine for a couple of minutes.

That's what I'm trying to do with this blog, to let other people know that they're not alone.  I don't have all the answers, but I can listen and share my stories with you!  Thanks for listening!