I’m reprioritizing my daily life

I'm kinda pushing myself to get through today. Nothing drastic has changed but I'm feeling anxious and overwhelmed. I'm relieved that my life is finally moving forward and I can begin implementing some of the things I've been waiting to do. That's all positive. At the same time, however, I feel depleted and out of sorts. I slept pretty good last night and that's good. The problem I believe, is more about the years of stress, pain, and exhaustion that have culminated since 2014. All of that has finally reached its conclusion, and I don't have to be strong or stoic anymore for myself or my kids. I'm able to let myself feel these things now. I'm starting over and in order to do that, I have to go through…

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Buying this amazing puzzle helps support #autistic artists

If you've been following our story over the last year or so, You might remember how Emmett and I love putting jigsaw puzzles together. We've put tons of puzzles together over the last 12 months and really enjoyed doing so. I have to say that this latest puzzle we're undertaking is by far the coolest puzzle we've taken on. While we haven't completed it yet, we're working on it a little each day. The puzzle in question is by my friends at Zenaviv. If you don't remember, Zenaviv is a social enterprise, started by my friend Harish Bikmal. Harish is the father of a 19-year-old boy diagnosed with classic autism. Zenaviv is run by parent volunteers. They represent and support autistic artists. Each artist earns at least 66% of the…

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How to Prepare For a Family Road Trip

A road trip is one of the most enjoyable ways to spend time with your family. Thanks to the ability to drive to whatever destination you like, these trips can be a fun and exciting way and to expand your experiences, and bring your family closer together. However, there is no denying that long hours in a car can make parents and children cranky. To make your family’s next road trip a success, here are some tips that will help you prepare properly. Get Your Vehicle Ready Before you even think about going on a road trip you need to make sure that your vehicle is in proper working order. The best thing to do is to schedule an appointment with a mechanic. Photo by Dominika Roseclay from Pexels Make…

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A child trapped in a man’s body

My kids are driving me bonkers today. They're fighting with each other over stupid, pointless things. It's almost like they're fighting just to fight. I just defused an argument between Gavin and Elliott that was very quickly exculating. While this wasn't stupid or pointless, it was completely avoidable. Gavin had been doing something, on purpose, to annoy Elliott. Elliott had asked Gavin to stop half a dozen times and but he kept right on going. Elliott eventually got up and left the room. Gavin then proceeded to follow him and that's when Elliott finally began to lose his patience. This final confrontation took place outside my bedroom door, which is how I became aware of what had been happening. Elliott handled himself quite well but Gavin, not so much. Gavin…

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Having reasonable expectations for myself

It's Thursday and that means the last day of school for the week. Fridays are deemed independent work days and that essentially means that it's a day where the kids get caught up on any school work they haven't finished. If they're current, it's a free day. I'm pretty sure both boys are caught up but I'll know for sure after they're done with school today. I went to bed in a not so good place and woke up feeling better. Emmett must have had a nightmare because I woke up several times because he kicked me. When I fell asleep last night, Emmett was safely tucked into his own bed and fast asleep. I'm not sure what happened. Either way, I'm glad I could be there for him to…

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A long overdue emotional exhale

I feel like my day started off amazingly well and then it slowly, methodically descended into chaos as the day went on. I managed to get some work done but not enough and that's really frustrating me. I'm exhausted, overwhelmed and in the process of figuring out how to go about building a new life. Emmett is struggling because he apparently was under the impression the divorce had been finalized for a long time. When it discovered that it wasn't going to be finalized until yesterday, it really upset him. I didn't know he had misunderstood the situation for so long and I'm not sure what lead to the confusion. Unfortunately, he now feels like the whole thing has been reopened. He's on a hair trigger right now and it's…

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Why I don’t believe time heals all wounds

Yesterday was honestly one of the hardest days of my life but I survived. My marriage of nearly two decades officially came to an end, oddly enough, with the same words that it began with, I do. Our court hearing took place over the phone, at my attorney's office. It's kinda weird doing something like this over the phone but COVID has changed a great many things on our daily lives. The whole process took only a few minutes and it basically ended with the Lizze and I each being asked if we wanted to the court to adopt our agreement. I hadn't recognized the irony of answering that question with I do until 24 hours later, as I was writing this. The question was asked something like this. Robert,…

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Helping my adult #autistic son find independence

Gavin is bound and determined to move out. Until recently, I hadn't really considered that to be an option but this is what he wants. As his parent, I want him to reach whatever level of independence he can achieve. With that in mind, I'm getting the ball rolling on this. The process is likely to take awhile and that's okay because I wouldn't do anything before COVID is resolved and it's safe for Gavin to pursue. I'm going to be preoccupied this week so I don't envision making any serious progress. I wanted to outline my current plan but keep in mind this is subject to change. I expect that we have a full year, at the very least, before we can really do anything. I want to make…

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