When Dominic was diagnosed I had an extremely challenging year stating that he had autism outloud. I knew he did and it was important for me to come to terms with it. One thing that I learned was when World Autism Day was and that is on April 2nd. When I found this out, I said, “God always has a plan.” April 2nd is my birthday and I choose to think that Autism Awareness Day is my gift. It is a day where we can forget about my birthday and give awareness to the biggest cause I support and fight for each day. What a gift, a perfect birthday gift.
April 2nd is a day that I want to Light It Up Blue and support! There is no greater feeling when I see people wearing blue or have house lights that are blue! What a perfect gift, they are saying they support families like ours and that feeling is priceless.
A dear friend organized an event that I was surprised on my birthday with everyone wearing Autism Awareness shirts. I will never forget how that made me feel. It goes down to one of the top best days in my life. It showed me that I wasn’t alone in this journey and that people had my back. I would walk into a building and they all had the t-shirt on and I will never forget that day. I will never forget the feeling I had and the happy tears I cried. This was one of the three events that were me coming out to a larger group to say, “my son has autism.” I know I have told her how much that day meant but I don’t know if she truly understands how much of an impact it had on me and still does.
My birthday wish, is for each person in the autism community to get that feeling of acceptance and to be able to reflect on that on a hard day. To have the support of others during this journey and to be reminded they are not alone. That is a gift that will continue to keep on giving for days and years to come.
