Thankful Thursday - The Blogging Community Especially Autism Blogs

It's that time of week when I try to narrow down everything that I'm thankful for to just one thing to talk about.  I have SO much in my life to be thankful for, but Thursdays are when I spotlight only one thing.  And this week without a doubt it's the blogging community.  That being said, I have a particular love for the autism blogging community.  Whether it's the hysterical commentary from Riding the Crazy Train or the heart touching insight from Lost and Tired and many other blogs, they keep me going.

I read a lot of blogs and love each and everyone, or else I wouldn't read them, and I have 100+ followers of my own, but never did I think I would have a community of friends.  I had a friend that had been writing her blog for about a year and I had read it and kept up with it and thought that's so neat.  Then I got a surprise, I was finally pregnant after five years of trying and finally being told it wasn't going to happen.  What better way to tell people than a blog, right?

I started writing my blog in April of 2010, with no intentions of following other blogs or doing much with it other than a sort of diary for our family that I would later have made into books.  Most of my family, as well as my husband's family, doesn't live around us.  Some live only an hour away and others even farther.  This would be a way of letting them watch our family and get to know us better.  I took to writing my blog.  At first I didn't tell that I was pregnant, as I had gone into labor 15 weeks early with my first born and he only lived seven hours.  There is something in my body that "attacks boys" as my doctor put it.  My pregnancy with my daughter was a breeze other than gaining 60 pounds.  Eventually I announced that I was pregnant, but not until I was 30 weeks, and you can read about that HERE.

Time passed and I blogged off and on for the next year and tried to find time to keep family up to date on everything, after all that's why I was writing my blog.  Then THIS happened and things began to change.  I hid a lot until about a month later, when I dealt with it HERE.  This was a time in my life that I needed friends.  I have some great friends and great support, but I mean people that understand.  People that knew there was nothing wrong with my son, he just learns differently, he's different not damaged. 

So, I began to link to "blog hops."  These weren't necessarily autism blogs, but these were people that encouraged me to keep going, like No..el.  Along the way, I met Chris at Riding the Crazy Train and let me tell you, funny doesn't even begin to describe her.  She's a mom with twin daughters both on the spectrum.  Yes, you read that right, twins and BOTH.  She posts emotional stuff about her daughters and trips and everything in between, just telling it like it is.  And then at the end of each week, she posts some of the funniest stuff I've ever read about the previous week.  You should really check her out, even if you don't have a child with autism, she's just a great person to get to know.

Then, last night, while talking to a good friend, she turned me towards a VERY emotional blog written by a dad, yes, a DAD and in reading the first post that she linked me, I was instantly in tears.  The blog is Lost and Tired and it's about raising three boys that are all on the spectrum.  I have to share the first link that I read with you, you can find it HERE.  But I am going to copy and paste it here, so that when my book is printed I will have those words.  Again, these are in no way my words, these are the words of Rob Gorski.

10 Things my Autistic kids wished you knew

1. I’m sorry I have fits but I’m not a spoiled brat.

2. I’m easily overwhelmed because I see and hear everything. I hear the lights hum and clock tick. Everything is so loud it makes my head hurt all the time and my eyes hurt from all the bright lights.

3. I’m not stupid, I’m actually very smart. I just don’t learn the way you want me to. Please learn about Autism so you know how to help me better understand what you are trying to teach.

4. Please don’t be mad at mommy and daddy because we don’t come over for holidays or birthdays. They really want to go but I don’t do well at another person’s house. It’s too overwhelming for me and they know that. They don’t go because they love me, NOT because they don’t like you.

5. Please have patience with me. I try really hard to make good decisions but I can be very impulsive at times.

6. Yes, I have Autism but that doesn’t mean I’m less of a person because of it. If anything, I’m actually more of a person in spite of it.

7. My house might be messy sometimes. It’s because my mommy and daddy spend all their time trying to find new ways to help me or teach my brother to talk..

8. Just because I can’t talk doesn’t mean I don’t understand what you are saying. My feelings can be hurt just like yours.

9. I wish my mommy and daddy knew how much I love them. I have a really hard time with emotions and I don’t always like to be touched. But I love them more than anything in the world, even more than my Lego’s.

10. I know I can be frustrating but don’t tell me I won’t amount to anything because I have Autism. If you love and support me I WILL do great things in my life in spite of my challenges.

• 
  

I continued to read more and more of his posts and the emotion that he writes with is so raw and so spot on. I LOVE the blogging community and I just hope some of them love me as much as I love them.