autismdadinthe603

Social media can be my best friend at times. I’m guilty of putting up a ton of photos that chronicles everything that we do. On the other side of the coin, I manipulate the picture to share only what I want the public to know. This is when social media becomes my worst enemy. This is my daily tug of war when it comes to my family.

What do I share? What don’t I share? What should I share? Should I share at all? All of these are loaded questions that sometimes I have the energy to face them and sometimes I don’t.

The thing is that I didn’t order Autism on a menu for Sawyer. It’s not something that I picked up at the grocery store in aisle 2. It fell in our lap like an ace from a deck of cards. It wasn’t a likely draw but it was the card we were given.

Even a few years into the new world for us, I have been guilty to painting a picture that the world could see.

Many see the happy boy with a smile along with his brother and sister. They don’t see that frustration of slamming his hand to the ground, the long stims of trying to regulate himself as others stare at him. Many don’t see his day to day struggles.

They aren’t here with us as we worry about his future. The endless questions of what Sawyer will face as he chases independence and the survival skills to be on his own someday.

What I do know is that I refuse to chronicle each second of a roadblock. I rather celebrate each success and open up the world to what we know.

So with each picture I share only tells a fraction of the story, I hope everyone can enjoy the life of Autism and Sawyer that I’m trying to share. That’s my favorite picture to show.