Before

So it's Autism Awareness month, and we all know what that means for me. Okay, maybe not. I'd like to hope I'm in a little better place this year. Maybe it's because I already got my rant out of the way in January.

The truth is, writing long soul-wrenching rants is very therapeutic for me. While my readers might come away from such a post thinking I'm broken, I actually feel much better after getting it all out in semi-eloquent prose. This month, though, I want to do something more than use LiveJournal as a kind of electronic therapist, by offering what little I can offer regarding this nebulous concept of Autism Awareness. I don't know what it's like to be autistic, and I don't know what it like for every parent of an autistic child. I only know what it's like to be Luke's mother. For whatever that's worth, I'm going to tell you what I know about that, in the form of weekly entries throughout this month. I'm going to be honest and thorough, and even more long-winded that usual. In order to more accurately capture some of the feelings I had over time, I'll include excerpts from my journals. I'll start with the beginning.

( A long, long time ago (well, almost thirteen years) )