Have you heard the story about April?

I love Spring. The flowers blooming, the sun returning, thunderstorms and new beginnings. April is especially important to me.
Today is mine and my husband's 17th anniversary. Seventeen years of ups and downs, drama and adventure. Eleven moves, eleven years with the Navy, four kids, four surgeries, and inumerable laughs. I'll come back to the anniversary bit in a moment...
Our oldest son was born at the beginning of April, turning sixteen this year. There's nothing like having a teenager to make you feel old, haha.
For the second year in a row, we spent Easter weekend at my sister's home in Idaho. Ten adults, fifteen kids, and surprisingly little craziness!
This April was filled with a few other exciting (and hopefully less annual) events such as Geoff breaking his nose and my purchasing the bridal store I've been working at. Both are changes that will leave a noticeable mark on our lives and hopefully improve our character a bit.

April is also Autism Awareness month. In the past few years that has meant more focused participation on local events to help promote awareness in our community. This year I've just been too busy to contribute as much as I'd like and quite frankly my kids are doing so well that I sometimes feel guilty attending free things with my 'normal' looking kiddos. I have been uplifted and inspired by many friends, both local and abroad, but have stayed carefully inside my bubble of content this month. Today, however, kicked my butt and reminded me that no matter how much I want to pretend the Autism is always there.
Our plans for the day included my spending a few hours at work while hubby and the kids spent time with friends at the park. We had hoped to make it to an Autism event but weren't able to squeeze it in before a birthday party for another friend at Chuck E. Cheese. I should have seen the warning signs as I watched Spencer play with his buddies, but I did a great job of ignoring them instead. He had wandered from the group, unaware of where anyone else was, and was gnawing on his tongue... something I hadn't seen him do until this week. Alex used to do it all the time. Once the party was finished Spencer started on a vocal loop of requesting to go home with his friend over, and over, and over, and over. Thank goodness the other mom was an understanding smooth talker and was able to assist in redirecting his request.
Two hours later the kids were fed and Doug and I were getting ready to go out for the evening, for wat is usually our one and only annual attempt at a date night. Then Spencer stumbled to the living room and dropped into my lap. My little man isn't so little anymore... At almost eleven he's not a big fan of mom's hugs so it was a rare thing indeed for me to have him snuggled in my arms for over an hour. He hurt but could only respond with 'I don't know' for most of the evening. After a lot of snuggling and blocking out the world he seems to be okay again but we are spending yet another anniversary at home.

The following is a quote I've borrowed from another Autism mom that seems to fit perfectly this last day of Autism Awareness month:
'Wouldn’t it just be lovely if after Autism Awareness Month was over we all got one day – just one, single solitary day when we didn’t have to be AWARE of autism? Just one, God. Please. For my friends. For their kids. Just one. Amen.'
~ A Diary of a Mom

Have you heard the story about the Armchair Activist?

I'm not sure what triggered it, but the phrase Armchair Activist has been buzzing in my head all weekend. Maybe it's our current political unrest. Every other news story seems to be about another politician making a major gaffe or attempting to enact an insane law... and then the commentary begins. There is such division in opinion betweent the population when for the most part (if you listen close enough) we're all really asking for the same thing.

I am a listener. I love a good story, I love hearing how someone made it through a challenge and how that has changed them.
What really gets to me though are the intensity of comments from what I consider Armchair Activist- a lot of talk and no action.

If you have survived or accomplished any of the following, pull up a chair and spin me a yarn. I want to know YOUR opinion of how and why things need to change.

If you (or your spouse) have ever...
1) staged or participated in any type of protest or rally.
2) attended and or spoken at a city council or town hall meeting.
3) chosen as a career or volunteered as a firefighter, police officer, or EMT.
4) chosen a career as a teacher or volunteered on a regular basis at your local school.
5) been part of a PTA, volunteered at an animal shelter, worked in a nursing home, donated blood regularly, or worked with such groups as United Way or Habitat for Humanity.
6) owned or managed a small business and navigated the complicated tax and employment laws.
7) served in any branch of the miltary.
8) been employed by or volunteered to work for the government.
9) run for and/or served in any government office.
10) fought for better treatment of a family member's injury or illness.
11) taught your child at home because the current education system is not equipped to assist them in achieving their potential.
12) volunteered with a support group organization to better serve and educate the public.

Now, since I can claim participation in all but 2 of these activities, I will share my opinion just this once.

We are blessed to live in a free country, to believe and preach as we wish. We are blessed to have a great number of our population willing to sacrifice their time and energy to make our world a better place. We are blessed to live in a time of connection and convenience.

Our system is broken, too many (but not all or even most) of our politicians are corrupt. Too often decisions made by our leaders are based on personal preferance rather than what is truly best for the public. Projects are short sighted and underfunded, red tape is thicker than many can ever cut through, and support for those in need has become far too corrupted with monies syphoned to those much less deserving and projects much less useful.

My request to all is that you stand up, stretch your legs, and take a step away from your armchair. There's a big world out there waiting for your help.