The Summer I Ran Away (and What Brought Me Home)
Hilton Head, 2012. Photo Credit: Donna Fischer Once upon a time, I ran away from home. I ran in a very structured, organized, responsible sort of way, which is to say, I disguised the escape. *** When my husband and I visited family last month, we spent time with my parents, brother, grandparents, and an aunt and uncle too. I'm blessed with a wonderful extended family, and I feel particularly close to this aunt and uncle. Why? Because I lived with them for a summer seven years ago. When people asked me why I was staying with my...
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Hoping Against Hope, Lighting It Up Blue: World Autism Awareness Day
This past week, I experienced a new kind of homecoming. My family had the joy of being together, but we also had the sorrow of my brother Willie's outbursts. For the first time in a long time, he had multiple instances of out-of-control aggression in the span of a week. As such, World Autism Awareness Day is tinged with pain for me. It's the grief of watching my parents incur injuries as they try to protect their son from self-harm. It's the powerlessness of wanting to help and not knowing how. Most of all, it's the sound of Willie's weeping...
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