Looking For A Little Blog Post Direction

Hi blog readers! The ones of you who are still popping in from time to time. I was just checking my stats and there have been quite a few page views, surprisingly, since I haven't posted in a couple of weeks.

While I haven't been here, I have actually been thinking about and planning the future for my blog posts, where to take this blog from here, blog post ideas, etc. Since I began writing this blog two years ago, I've sort of let it go wherever it wants to go with no real planning, just whatever comes to mind and is a part of my day or life.

That's probably what will continue to take place, but at least I have good intentions on direction now or at least I'm trying to obtain some direction.  Anyway, here's kind of what I have in mind for future blog posts:

1. For all you Asperger/autism parents that follow my blog, you have probably all left by now  because I have been writing very little about autism or adventures with my Aspie son. Since he's away at college and I am several hundred miles away from him right now there is very little to write about lately that I feel wouldn't violate his privacy. You may remember the bed bug incident (Here) that happens to be the most popular post of all time I think because of those computer robot things. Go figure! When new issues arise, however, you may find a blog post here about it. Surviving bed bugs is important!
2. Triathlon training and races will continue to be a part of this blog since it's a huge part of my life. Fitness is actually going to be an even bigger part of my life because we just purchased a gym franchise and will open two gyms in the St. Petersburg area within the next 6 months that I will run. This should keep me pretty darn busy in the days ahead. Don't be surprised to see some blog posts on this. Hopefully, not stressed out, pulling out my hair kind of blog posts.
3. Fashion, especially shoes, will always be a small part of this blog. I love clothes, but hate shopping. If I loved shopping, there would be many more fashion posts, but one very unhappy husband. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, my photographer got another job and quit on me (Read about it Here) and I'm terrible at selfies so this limits the fashion posts too.
4. What I eat, places I frequent, travel, etc. will always be a part of this blog. I have so many places already that I need to share but haven't had the time. We just moved to a new city that has much to offer and I like to share my discoveries here. Expect to see more of this soon. Doesn't everybody like pictures of food? Aren't you all just dying to see what I'm eating?
5. Cats. That's a given. Whether you like those posts or not, my cats are the coolest, most talented supreme cats ever so expect lots of blog posts about their awesomeness. You're welcome!
6. The Murph, my husband, who continually cracks me up and gives me lots of fodder to steal from. He hates it when I pick up on his little, sort of obnoxious sayings and idioms and overuse them. Why? Because they ARE obnoxious and funny to strange people like me who have a dry sense of humor and are full of sarcasm in general. Expect to see lots of it here and any other things he does that amuses me.

Well, I think that takes care of just about everything I write or plan to write about here. I promise to get back to regular postings. You've probably enjoyed the break from my crazy randomness, but then again, you keep coming back for more.

It must be the cat pictures. I hate to disappoint so here you go... One more Cadence, the photo bombing freak cat, picture. 

You're welcome!

Special Needs Ryan Gosling - Week 2

It's Friday! Yay!

Today I'm linking up again with Adventures in Extreme Parenthood with my very own Special Needs Ryan Gosling meme. Every Friday a group of parents, most who have children on the autism spectrum, but not necessarily, link up with their own creative SNRG memes. Anyone can link up, whether you have a child with autism, a child with another disability or no child at all, but you think Ryan is hot or you're the creative type and just want to do a meme.

Here's my SN Ryan Gosling contribution for the week.

Because sometimes even NT's could use a little social skills training.

Head on over to Extreme Parenthood for more extremely clever Ryan Gosling memes created by the best autism warrior parents ever!

5K Run For Autism

I haven't done very many 5k races the past several years, but now it seems like I'm making up for it. I did the Rumpshaker 5k for colon cancer last Saturday, 5k for autism today in honor of the Boy and next Saturday there's the 5k for Transverse Myelitis, a spinal cord disease that our friend, D's son was diagnosed with a couple of years ago.

I hadn't planned on running as hard as I did last Saturday because my legs have been sore most of the week and I didn't think it would be a good idea. That was a good thing because it was freezing this morning and I don't run well in cold weather and the course wasn't clearly marked so half the runners missed the little .2 (?) mile loop and half the runners did it. It was all for a good cause so I really didn't care what my time was anyway and it didn't change the order of my age group since me and the second place girl both missed the added loop and the third place person was my friend L, who did the loop but was about a minute behind us on the course before the loop. Our times would have been about a minute slower, but the order we came in would have been the same.

It didn't matter. I'm not even sure if they gave out awards to the top winners anyway. I think this is the first year they did the 5k. In the past they just did the 2 mile walk. The most important thing is the fundraising. I'm not sure how much money was raised, but I hope it was a lot.

I'm really glad my friend L decided to do the race too. I wish more people had participated in the 5k. There were far more people doing the 2 mile walk than the 5k.

This is one cool DJ! I loved his hat.

Great Bar-B-Q although it was too early for me to eat something that heavy. Jim N Nicks is one of my favorites. I did grab a cup of coffee though!

Next weekend is the same. I'm doing the 5k for the cause more than to race. I do hope the course is marked better though!

L and I ran another 3 miles after the 5k for a total of 6 miles. Then I did 40 minutes on the spin bike at the gym. No, I didn't ride my tri bike. At least not today. Probably a good thing considering my asthma.

It got much warmer and ended up being a warm, beautiful, yet pollen filled day. The yellow stuff is thick on the cars and probably in my lungs too. Even the cats are sneezing!

Just So You Know If You Didn't Already...

Add caption

I thought I'd better get this in before April 3 rolls around and then it would be too late. Just for the record I did NOT wear blue today, not because I don't believe in and support autism awareness, but because blue really isn't my best color. I am, however, wearing pink. The Murph wouldn't let me put blue light bulbs outside either so we are not going blue anywhere outside either. The Murph does have a blue shirt on that says Jazz pure cool. We will pretend he's autism aware!

Sorry!

Poor Murph has become more autism aware over the past two plus years since we've been together than he ever thought he would be. (or wanted to be!) After being around the Boy for those years he jokes with me that autistic people are hard to be around. He doesn't like it! I explained to him that the Boy is only one example and not all autistic people are like the Boy. The Boy really isn't that bad most of the time. Just difficult some of the time and those times can usually be prevented if we plan ahead of time for them.

Our version of light up the blue

The Murph still has some awareness coming to him!

The Murph told me not to forget to mention the 5k run for autism I am doing this weekend. I will probably wear pink then too. Coincidentally, the autism society is doing the walk/ run here in Birmingham on the same day as where the Boy goes to school. I told him about the race and suggested he do it, but he wasn't convinced.

The Boy may or may not be wearing blue today for autism awareness, but no matter what color he's wearing, I just hope it is clean and wrinkle free.  Okay, forget wrinkle free. If it's just clean I will be a happy mom. Even when he was living at home with me, he didn't make it to school with wrinkle free clothing. Neither one of us did because I don't iron. It's a hazard for me to handle anything that gets that hot.

My refusal to iron my ex-husband's dress shirts is one of the reasons we are divorced.

Now I hope you become as aware of autism as we are! It's all fun really!

Don't Call My Son Stupid!

I apologize in advance for my vents, but when the Boy is home sometimes I need to vent.  This time it's not anything the Boy did at all.  For the small amount of time I've spent with him, he's been great.  I just wish he'd get back on a sleep during the night, stay awake during the day schedule.  What's bugging me now is the level of uneducated ignorance that exits in this world when it comes to people on the Autism spectrum.

Yesterday was a tough day.  I really wish people were more understanding of the Boy's many quirks and sometimes his argumentativeness that borders on rudeness.  Even knowing he has Asperger's doesn't seem to matter.  I still get hit with "it's not Asperger's, that's just an EXCUSE."  I guess if someone has a broken leg and can't walk then that's "just an excuse" too.  I am so sick of it I could scream!   Asperger's is a real problem and he has issues with social skills.  Get it!

I think the Boy is oblivious to these people and their ignorant attitudes, so I'm the only one banging my head against the wall so to speak.  It seems that the judgmental attitude should have ended when he got diagnosed with a very real problem.   You can look at him and see there's a problem.  Why be so ugly and mean about it?  

The social awkwardness slowly seemed to magnify as he became an adult.  I don't know how to help him with that just like I didn't know what to do when he was kid.  Now there are programs for autistic children that weren't there for him when he was that age.  One day I'm sure there will be programs for young adults that just aren't out there now.  He's ahead of the curve and that's not a good thing.

Today the Boy had an appointment with Dr. W, his psychiatrist.  Insurance does not cover any of it so we have to pay the entire bill.  The Boy missed his appointment before Christmas because he was at his dad's house and I couldn't get his dad to take him to the appointment.  I had forgotten about it until the day of the appointment and tried to cancel the appointment when I couldn't get in touch with the Boy and his dad wouldn't go home and wake him up.  Of course, I was charged for that missed visit as well as this one.  Fortunately, Dr. W only charged me half for the missed visit.   Does the Boy's dad help with any of this?  Heck no!  He can't even be bothered to take him to the appointment ever.

On the way home from the appointment, The Boy and I were talking about the Boy's college housing for next Fall.  This year he went from the dorm to an apartment right off campus.  This has been a lot more money than I thought it would be and the Boy is depending on his dad to help with rent.  The Boy said he asked his dad for the rent when he was over there for dinner the other night and his dad told him he didn't have the money.  Another lie!   

 The Boy had his friend W, there to witness this.  W's dad is totally involved in his son's college and pays for everything his scholarship doesn't pay for, including buying him a car and paying the insurance, etc.  It really hurts the Boy when he sees this and he then sees how his dad treats him.  There's nothing I can do to make his dad help out more except maybe take him to court which would cost me a lot of money and may not amount to anything.

The Boy knows he will have to go back into the dorm next year because he can't afford the apartment.  I just don't get it.  How does that man sleep at night?  We're not talking about that much money because the Boy's financial aid covers almost everything.  I just don't get it!

One more vent then I'll stop, I promise!

Please don't call my son stupid, especially when he may hear you.  Call me anything you want, but watch out when you talk about my son.  Anyone who calls a special needs person "stupid" is the lowest of the low.  Who's the real stupid one?

Not my son!

What The Boy Went Through In School

The Boy graduated from high school in May of 2011 so I really don't know why this has been on my mind so much.  I guess it all started with the survey the high school sent him last month.  They were asking for feedback from the graduates on what they thought about the school and the programs, etc so they could improve on them I guess.  They had won some awards and maybe wanted to do even better so they could win even more awards.  Yahooo on the freakin awards!

As I said in another post, the Boy was very negative about the school and his answers to almost all the questions reflected this "hatred" of the school.  I actually defended the school and got him to rate some of his negative answers a little less negatively, which he did.  I felt that if the school didn't do somewhat of a good job then he wouldn't have gotten into college and he wouldn't be doing as well as he is, right?  I mean he went from making D's and F's in high school to all A's and B's last semester in college and made the dean's list.  His overall GPA in high school was a 1.97 and his GPA now in college is a 3.05.  

Didn't high school prepare him for that?

The more I think about it though, the angrier I get.  I think about our life before the Boy started kindergarten and even though he wasn't diagnosed with Asperger's yet and even though we knew something wasn't right about the child, our lives were okay for the most part.   No anxiety, no depression. ( Well, okay there is still some of that, but without the unnecessary stress the school caused for many years.)

It wasn't until the Boy started school that the nightmare began.  Within a year I saw his self esteem drop.  By the end of first grade and rounds of parent teacher conferences, IEP's, testing for this and that and a letter to us from his teacher begging us to let him repeat 1st grade to "catch up", we were emotionally exhausted.  The Boy's self esteem dropped drastically.  And the years went on with each one causing more anxiety and depression for me and more hopelessness and anxiety for the Boy.

Parent Teacher conferences and IEP meetings became "let's point fingers at who's to blame for all of this".  Guess who got "blamed" the most?   Me.  I was outnumbered.  The Boy became a "behavioral issue" instead of someone who really needed help.  I became the person who couldn't control and discipline my child.  I had never even heard of Asperger's back then so I didn't even know how to defend myself or get the Boy the help he needed.  On one hand I knew I was doing everything I could to help him, above and beyond what I saw other mom's having to do, but on the other hand I thought they might be right.  I was a failure as a parent. 

It was a nightmare.

Yes, every year there was always one particular person, teacher or professional who really seemed to care and hold my hand to try to guide me in the right direction to help my son, but ultimately it was up to me.

The Boy was diagnosed with ADD in fourth grade after his teacher pointed out what I already knew and had seen. (what EVERYONE had seen)  I guess a new school, new teacher, new diagnosis.   ADD meds were added along with pretty much the same IEP.  ADD didn't get him that much more help back then.  I don't know if it's different now.  I hope so.

Then in eighth grade he was diagnosed with Asperger's from a psychiatrist he had been seeing for over a year to help coordinate his ADD medications.  The same one he still goes too and has treated him for depression and anxiety.

The Asperger's diagnosis seemed to get a little more help for him at the school, including qualifying him for help through Alabama Rehab, which is helping him get through college and eventually into the workforce.  Even then, things never worked the way they were suppose too but by high school I was too worn down to fight much anymore.  Luckily, the Boy just wanted to get out of that place and with the extra "help" he was receiving, he made it out.

Did it really have to be that bad?  It took him 14 years to graduate if you count kindergarten and repeating 1st grade, not to mention the 3 summers he went to summer school.  I look back now and I am furious!   Since he graduated a year and a half ago, our lives are so much different.  His self esteem is getting better,  I'm not depressed and worn down anymore.  I think I'm getting strong enough again to really be angry.  

Even tonight the Boy stated how he hated that school.  I almost wish I didn't make him change some of his negative answers on the survey they sent us.  They could use some change.   I can only hope they have changed now that there is so much information out there on Asperger's and Autism that may not have been available 15 years ago.

 I am still very mad at what they put the Boy and me through all those years!  

Yes, I don't blame the Boy for the way he feels about that school.  Just wish I could have changed things a long time ago so he wouldn't have had to go through all the crap.

The Aspie Quiz

I found this quiz online one day while I was looking around for Asperger related information.  I took it just out of curiosity to see what my results would be.  Since Asperger's and Autism are known to have a genetic component, I wanted to know if I was an Aspie too.  It certainly seems like it some times when I have anxiety and trouble dealing with stress.  (although these things only happened after I was an adult - a parent to be exact)

Today I got the Boy to take the quiz.  He's been much more sociable and relaxed these past few days.  Not to mention awake during the day instead of only at night.  We were calling him the "vampire boy" for a while.  

If you want to take the Aspie Quiz just click here.  The scores are broken down into the different areas on the chart and it was very interesting to see all the results.

I took the quiz twice on different days.  This was my results the first time I took it.  The second time I took it, I deliberately tried to get a more "Aspie" score, but I still ended up neurotypical.  The Boy was quick to point out on my results how low my Intellectual score was.  He had a good laugh at at my low intellect!  I responded "Yes, but see how physical I am!"  If I were a cave man I could really hunt some buffalo.
                                      Results- Aspie score:  60 of 200

                                      neurotypical (non-autistic) score:  145 of 200

My Quiz Results =
Neurotypical

Here is the Boy's quiz results showing what we already know.  He's an Aspie.  He's also quite intellectual.  Maybe not such a good buffalo hunter though.

                                      Results- Aspie score 122 of 200
                                      neurotypical (non-autistic) score 83 of 200

The Boy's Results =
Aspie

It's a good thing we have Mexican restaurants nearby.  He and I consumed large quantities of this stuff the other day along with chips and salsa.  No buffalo.

Please share your scores in the comments if you decide to take the quiz.  Hopefully you will be more intellectual than I am.

It's Friday! Know What That Means?

I don't know where the week went, but Friday is here and that only means one thing, time for Special Needs Ryan Gosling.  The Murph is "Hey girling" me already as he sees me writing this post.  I can't tell you what else he's saying!  It's kind of personal.

The Special Needs Ryan Gosling meme was started several months ago by Sunday Stillwell over at Adventures in Extreme Parenthood.  Go on over to her blog to check out more of these.

I did this one because the Boy's been home from college less than a month and I can only say his room is covered in filth!  He seems oblivious and refuses to do anything about it.  We are about to lay down the law, baby!!

And this one because if you haven't already seen this blog post here, thanks to me, all our cats have fleas.

And this one because just in case you didn't see my blog post where I was sulking and being a REALLY sore loser for not getting in the semi finals for the Kona Inspired contest and I blamed it all on the fact that all I have to deal with is autism not cancer or some other ailment and nobody cares about autism as much as those "other" ailments.  And I didn't have very long to PROVE just how "popular" I really am because I didn't get my entry in as soon as some of those "others"... And YES, I'm still a little sore about it, but I've got my big girl panties on now so I'm dealing...

I'm showing my "Southerness" in that last one -"ain't got nothin".  Not that I use double negatives in sentences on purpose or anything like that and we all know "ain't" ain't a word.  Even those of us here in the South.

On another note, The Boy still hasn't found a summer job and is driving me crazy.  Luckily, we are only awake at the same time for approximately one hour in the morning and sometimes for one hour before I go to bed, since he has his days and nights mixed up.

He wants me to go with him to look for jobs.  I told him that it doesn't look good to have your mother tagging along if really want a job.  I went to a local grocery store with him to fill out an application the other day.  They never called him.  They probably flagged him when we left the store for having his mother do most of the filling out.

I told him it just doesn't look good to have your mom calling for you.  I really shouldn't be anywhere in the near vicinity.  He's 20 years old!  It looks better to have almost ANYBODY with you except your mom.  It's just not good!

I couldn't get him to call the grocery store and he kept begging me to call.  He wasn't calling and he needs a job, so I broke down and called them and told them that my son was REALLY interested in a job at their store.  One of first things the store lady said to me was "Well, if he's so interested then why is his MOTHER calling?  He needs to call!".

I started babbling something about Asperger's but he's a great worker, very hard working and punctual, he just needs help with the initial call, blah blah blah.

I felt like I was in first grade again getting in trouble with the teacher.

Guess grocery store work isn't in the Boy's near future!!!

Good thing I didn't tell her his name! Wonder if they have caller id?

For more memes, go here!

How The Queen and I Are Alike. Really!

Yesterday after running with the Running Nazi and Ms. Harry Potter, a trip to McDonald's to get a chicken biscuit since I couldn't get back inside the house without setting the alarm off, taking a short nap, and then going to the gym to do weights, I was exhausted.  I decided to take my new People magazine and go out by the pool to thumb through it and relax.

It's amazing all the important information found inside this magazine.  I mean REALLY important stuff!  I couldn't do without it every month.

I got hooked on People magazines a few years ago when I would read them while I was working out at the YMCA during the winter.  The YMCA always had the latest copy and it was fun looking at the fashion and catching up on my favorite actors and actress.  It was also therapeutic to read about somebody else's drama and realize my life isn't as screwed up as theirs.

Eventually, I changed Y's and my new one didn't have People mags, so I got a subscription mailed to the house.

When The Murph started seeing them come in the mail, he totally didn't understand.  He was a little embarrassed to have them in the house.  I always had to hide them before company came over.

That was then.  This is now.

Now, after I've read them, they "mysteriously" end up in the bathroom among The Murph's stash of Downbeat, GQ, and Muscle Fitness mags.  (GQ! ha ha!!) Sorry, don't know why I think that's so funny.

The latest bathroom stash below...

He won't admit it, but he enjoys reading them too.  He even fills me in on articles I might have missed.

This latest People magazine was full of pictures of Jessica Simpson's new baby girl, Maxwell Drew (she's a cutie) and pictures of the Queen's diamond collection in honor of her Diamond Jubilee.  As I was looking at the pictures of Queen Elizabeth II and watching all the celebrating on television later, it occurred to me how alike we are, The Queen and I.

No, really, we are!

There are actually several reason's why I think the Queen and I are alike.  Some of these are....

1.  We are both animal lovers (she has dogs and races horses, I have cats and lost some money in a horse race once)

2. We both love diamonds (Although The Queen has more than I do and her diamonds are real.  I just pretend mine are)

3.  We were both born Princesses (The Queen was born into a royal family.  The Running Nazi once said that I have a "Princess" personality.  She's also called me a big baby.)

4.  We love to wear tiaras (only The Queen can wear her tiara in public without getting weird looks)

5.  We both wear hats

Hers

Mine

And...
 6.  We both have very loyal subjects

Hers

Another loyal subject.

Mine

See what I mean?  Very much alike!

There was also a picture of Jenny McCarthy with her clothes on promoting her new dating show.

Apparently, when she's not promoting giving bleach enemas to autistic children, she's in the Dominican Republic hosting "Love in the Wild."

Special Needs Ryan Gosling Friday!

It's Friday and time for Special needs Ryan Gosling.  Yea!  TGIF!  You can find more of these memes on Sunday Stillwell's blog over at Adventures in Extreme Parenthood.  

And wondering if he's doing this in preschool, what's high school going to be like?

I actually did get a call from the preschool once when The Boy was 4 years old.  He had locked horns with his new preschool teacher, who he didn't like much and was sent to the director's office.  The preschool director called me and told me I needed to come get him.  He was giving everybody trouble and had threatened to kick the door down.  

So thankful for Skype since The Boy is in college now!

This was so not like him.  It didn't take long to figure out that he was having trouble adjusting to the new teacher.  His original teacher left mid-year to become a missionary.   That wasn't a good year for The Boy.

This hasn't been a good week for me.  I had a feeling it wasn't going to be and tried to prepare myself mentally for it, but no matter how prepared you think you are, it's never easy when it happens.  Hope next week is better.

World Autism Awareness Day

The month of April is World Autism Awareness month and today kicks it off with World Autism Awareness Day.  I have spent most of the afternoon reading autism news, blogs, articles, etc., anything related to Autism/Asperger's awareness.  It is so good that there is starting to be more information and support for families with children on the autism spectrum.  It is clear, however, that we still have a long way to go.

The Boy wasn't officially diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome until he was in 8th grade, yet looking back, all the signs were there.  I had never even heard about Asperger's or knew anyone who had it until he was diagnosed with it.  I knew something was wrong, but something related to autism was not even considered.   The Boy's dad and family mostly blamed bad parenting for the Boy's problems.  Bad parenting by me, of course.  I guess they considered the Boy's dad a "great" parent, but if that was the case then why didn't he step up to the plate and "correct" me if I was such a bad parent.  Are mom's always to blame?  I have to admit that I even started blaming myself and thought that maybe I was doing something wrong.  I began wearing myself ragged trying to be a better parent.

 The Boy was 10 years old when I filed for divorce from his father.  At that point, I started taking The Boy to a child psychologist.  The Boy's dad and I were fighting so much that I thought it probably wasn't a bad idea to get him into counseling.  I had tried to get him into counseling months before filing for divorce.  That didn't end up well when the psychologist asked The Boy who he liked better his mom or his dad.  When The Boy told his dad this, his dad hit the roof.  I suggested that next appointment, The Boy's dad come and we could get to the bottom of why this question was asked.  Needless to say, The Boy's dad got ugly and accusatory and the psychologist didn't have a chance to explain.  I just wanted to disappear.  I never made another appointment with him.

The new psychologist was a female child psychologist recommended through the court system.  She was very good and did help me in some of the more immediate problems I had with The Boy, such as getting him to sleep in his own bed and help during the stress of the divorce.  What I will never, ever understand is why, why, why did she not once see that The Boy had signs of Asperger's?  We saw her once or twice a month for five years.  It wasn't until The Boy was diagnosed with ADD and he was having stomach problems and withdrawal issues from his meds that the school advised me to take him to a psychiatrist to help coordinate his ADD meds.  This man, who we saw approximately once every 6 months for less than two years when he diagnosed The Boy with Asperger's.  Finally the answer!

It's difficult thinking of all the lost years The Boy could have had specific help for his diagnosis!  He fell through the cracks for so many years despite the school knowing something was wrong, me knowing something was wrong, my friends and other parents knowing something was wrong, but nobody know what that thing was.  That thing called Asperger's.

After the diagnosis I cried.  I was so relieved.  The Boy was relieved.  I know it must be hard and a blow for families to learn their child has an autism spectrum disorder when they are toddlers, but take my word for it, it's a blessing to know and to take action early than to not know and not get the help they need.  The Boy had had IEP's and speech therapy, but the diagnosis made him eligible for so much more of the help he needed.  Best of all it took "behavioral problem" out of the picture.   As a mom, I knew my son was NOT a behavioral problem.  Don't even get me started on that one!

 It was still tough.  There were always some teachers who didn't want to accommodate and The Boy's dad still doesn't think there was any problem other than that I suck as a parent.  I am just so thankful the there is such a strong Autism/Asperger's community out there getting the word out.  I hope no other parent goes through what I did.  Even if The Boy had been diagnosed when he was a preschooler, there was very little out there to help him in this state.  Now we have Mitchell's Place, which really helped The Boy when he was first diagnosed.  He attended a summer camp there and went on to do the after school program his freshman year of school.  

This is the fifth year for the annual World Autism Awareness Day and I am thrilled.  I hope it continues and helps educate the public and get the support and funding for the families, children and adults who are faced with autism every day.  I feel inspired to do whatever I can do to help get the word out.  There's no time for blame, only for action.