A Day In the Life, Morgen's Story...

Sooooo, let me tell you what my "Day in the Life "is like....I am a 36 year old mom, two kids, boys..one is now 13, the other is 10....do I count the husband...sometimes that is debatable in counting him as a child...truly depends on his attitude of the day. So Monday through Friday (on a school day) I am up at 5:30...and up is also a debatable word as well. This all depends on how well I slept during the night as my husband will do his impression of a drowning buzz saw at times...and there are just nights that I can't sleep out of sheer exhaustion. So I am guessing the best way I should say this ...I drag my very not in shape butt out of bed , brush my teeth ,get dressed, go into the bathroom that my teenager will use for a shower and set the timer so that he will not use all the hot water in the house... and go downstairs to start the rest of the morning ritual...

The boys take turns feeding our dogs...everyone takes their medicine, when the 13 yr old is done eating, the 10 yr old is waking up. They pass each other on the stairs, which kinda reminds me of the Looney Toons cartoon of the sheep dog and the wolf...( Hi George...Hi Ralph... and then off they go to work try to out do each other). I drop off the 13 yr old at school at 6:50 am come home...watching my 10 yr get into the tub...he gets on the bus at 7:50. If I don't have tons to do with schools... and volunteering...or Band Booster....or Dr appointments....I take time for myself and try and catch up on me. RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!

I should explain that my 13 year old is probably not the same as all kids. He is extremely brilliant...and I know all parents say this, but his IQ was tested at between 160 and 180...he also has some other things going on that make him different. He has OCD, Anxiety disorder, ADD and Asperger's syndrome. Now for those that do not know what Asperger's is, I will tell you the answer...he has a high functioning form of Autism. His brain works like a computer at times, he has to learn behavior...he suffers at times from sensory over stimulation, he will always have an issue with food. But he is doing better this year than ever...he excels at music, is calms him, thus being able to be part of honor band at his Junior high...finding true best friends for the first time since I don't know when. He loves history , anything electronic...and can read more than 4 books at a time...but....his life has been hard. Which means as parents our life is hard. We have actually been told how lucky we are that our 10 yr old is "normal"....is anyone "normal"...but I was very close to hitting the person, needless to say, I did not.

Last year, when he was in 6th grade, he almost had a nervous break down because he was bullied so severely and we could not get the help we needed from the school. I sometimes get on my soapbox about what needs to be done for kids like by child...more and more are coming out about Autism and Autism spectrum disorders, but not enough is happening to help them and the families . We go to 2 different therapists and one of them is not covered by insurance, because he could not get them to work with him.

We still don't know how are son, our beautiful son, was chosen to be different. We tell him that he will be a wonderful person when he grows up and will be able to do anything he wants to do...and you know what...WE BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!

So life for us , its interesting, we do band, homework , football , golf, family, friends...wow...now doesn't that sound normal...

---Morgen Rose