Sandwiched between love.

I’m grateful Max is the youngest of our family.  He has been blessed with two older brothers who are a wonderful example. There are a thousand reasons why it’s been a blessing for Max.  

One reason is he has more than one sibling. I realized throughout Max’s elementary years he was and is one of the only classmates that have more than one sibling.  Most parents when they find out they have a special needs child decide on only one more child to complete their family.  For me, I can see how hard it would have been if Max was my first born child.  Max ran off into intersections daily, tore my curtain, pulled my pictures off the walls.  He punched his hand through the living room window and dismantled the window screen.  He didn’t sleep through the night until he was seven or eight years old.  My life was constantly unsettled.  

I see how grateful I should be for the strength I had to manage the best I could.  I prayed daily for good judgment of how to carry out my daily activities to provide for my other children and Max.  I know my children sacrificed, went without my help several times throughout their childhood years. I look back and see how each day was a battle with how to cope with autism in my son’s life in our family.  I owe my children a lot for their love towards Max. They have been heroes, they have taught him by example of what matters.  They have shown him how to be who he is today.  Max mimics what his brothers do, from cleaning, to movies they watch, from habits they develop. Max’s oldest brother Michael has a family of his own and Max observes how his brother treats and cares for his own son Preston.  Malachi is always there to help him practice his viola and give him encouragement.  Max doesn’t have the upper body strength to hold the viola for very long, but Malachi cheers him on to try.  Malachi guides him, loves him, and treats him like an older brother should.   I love my three sons and two sons in laws. They have all been an added blessing in Max’s life.  

I need to convey how much I appreciate my daughters and daughter in law.  They have been a source of deep strength to me.  Each daughter has given Max a genuine love of feeling wanted.  Max always talks about each one of his siblings and siblings in laws.  Max loves their ideas, words of comfort and time they spend explaining a word or subject.  They say it takes a community to raise a child.  For me, it’s taken more than the community; it’s taken my brilliant children to help raise Max. 

I want thank, Michael and Haylee, Melissa and Blake, Miriam and Bryce, Malachi, and my husband.  I’m beginning to see the light at the end of tunnel.   Max is magnificent and he shows each day I have him. 

Yesterday Max prayed for the homeless to be happy, be safe and those around them will love them.

Max has taught me, that I can climb a hill carrying a thousand pound rock on my back, with bare feet.

I love you Max. I dearly love you. Good luck on your play at school tomorrow.