My mother's day gift to myself: One of my essays appears in the New York Times on May 13.
It's titled, "When A Child Outgrows the Safety Net," and it traces the journey, as my son begins to navigate his way in the world, without the therapy sessions, special accommodations, school pull-outs, and other supports that began in preschool. It's also about my emergence from the dual role of mother-advocate -- a longed-for transition, but not such an easy one after all. My brave and fabulous son Sean not only allowed me to share this story, but cheered me on and was a thoughtful editor, too.
When I announced the impending publication at dinner the other night, my nine-year-old son Paul, already attuned to how long I often wait between the acceptance of a piece and its publication, asked, "Mom, have you been waiting a long time for this?"
"Yes, honey," I said, "About 35 years."
It's titled, "When A Child Outgrows the Safety Net," and it traces the journey, as my son begins to navigate his way in the world, without the therapy sessions, special accommodations, school pull-outs, and other supports that began in preschool. It's also about my emergence from the dual role of mother-advocate -- a longed-for transition, but not such an easy one after all. My brave and fabulous son Sean not only allowed me to share this story, but cheered me on and was a thoughtful editor, too.
When I announced the impending publication at dinner the other night, my nine-year-old son Paul, already attuned to how long I often wait between the acceptance of a piece and its publication, asked, "Mom, have you been waiting a long time for this?"
"Yes, honey," I said, "About 35 years."
6 comments:
35 years! I'm sure it's well worth the wait. Congrats and best wishes for Mother's Day.
I read your article--and passed it on to many of my friends....i am also a mom/advocate for my pdd-nos, high functioning autistic, aspergers(what in a diagnosis, right?) preschooler. I have reread your article 3 times today--it was so poignent. Thank you for putting into words feelings that i didnt even realize that i had. this one will get tucked away for when we finally cross the finish line!
Lisa,
the link isn't working here. WOuld LOVE To read this but I didn't see get The Times that day.
Congrats on making it to one of the finishing lines!
Thanks for letting me know. If the link does not work, you can search my name at nytimes.com. I'm still getting the hang of embedding the links - obviously not very well !
Congrats Lisa, that's terrific. :)
Congratulations on the publication of your essay... And thanks for leaving the funny comment on my site (afterthemfa.com)
Keep writing.
-gordon
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