When I became a parent for the first time, I sought out many different mothers who had been there before, learning all I could from them in an attempt to become a better mother myself.

When I became a parent of a special needs child, I only sought out one.

Let me tell you about this friend of mine.

And even though I have chosen to share our story publicly, she has not. So for the purposes of this post, I will call her “Hope”.

I met Hope on the first day of…

I am currently overseeing an epic NASCAR-style race through my house.

I am supposed to be furiously cleaning. Every year for my birthday, my mother gives me the present of having my house cleaned. And finally, exactly six months after my birthday, I have it scheduled for

tomorrow. It is sorely needed, as the house has become a disgusting

combination of a movie theater (with those sticky floors) and a public

bathroom (I blame that one on the fact that I live…

It was another one of those nights when I couldn’t sleep. By 2am, one kid had woken up once, another twice, and I was wide awake from my efforts to get everyone back to sleep again. So, as I usually do, I

just laid there in bed thinking. Sometimes I think about what to pack

the kids for snacks for camp. Or I wonder if I forgot to put the

laundry in the dryer. Sometimes I think about the long list of things I

haven’t been able to get to. This was one of those…

I’m a pretty private person.

I know that seems weird to say, considering I write this blog now, but in the non-virtual world I’m pretty good at keeping things about me to myself, only sharing with close family and a few select friends.

This need for privacy is certainly something I learned from my parents, and especially my father. Despite his very public political life, our family life was kept behind closed doors. Nothing

illustrated this more than when he got sick with…