Below is a blog post entry from 2012. Not much has changed - except Jessica no longer has an invisible friend/cat named Anga - instead she loves Invader Zim, Powerpuff Girls, music, dancing (especially doing the nae-nae), and talking about voice actors and cartoonists. I definitely still love her with all my heart, and embrace her uniqueness (and BOY is she unique!). Enjoy :-)
A letter to my daughter Jessica, on World Autism Day:
Dear Jessica,
When you were born, I was most excited about your blue eyes. Your father and I both have brown eyes, and everyone told me the color would fade from the sparkly blue to a darker brown. I knew better. I sensed that you would have blue eyes. Having blue eyes meant an awful lot to me back then. Maybe I thought children with blue eyes were treated better, or that because of your eye color things would come easier to you. Whatever ridiculous notion I had about your blueberry eyes, was just that; ridiculous.
Autism strikes no matter what color your eyes are.
Jessica, you have autism. I don’t think I have ever spoken that sentence to you. As a mother, it is hard to speak about labels and disabilities to your child. But know this, you may have autism but autism certainly does not have you. It just makes some things harder for you. Playing with friends, or going to school is hard for you because of autism. Loud noises and transitions are hard for you because of your autism. But autism has also given you so many wonderful traits. You are a talented artist. You would draw all day, every day if you could. You know more about cats than I could ever hope to learn. Because of you, I know that the Turkish Van is a cat that likes to swim. That is one cool thing to know! Thank you for that tidbit. Autism gives you that enormous and creative imagination. You are the most imaginative person I know. You have introduced us to your gang of imaginary cats, headed by Anga. Anga is pretty awesome. She used to work at Subway, and she is British? How cool is that??
This might sound a little odd, but I would like to thank autism for giving me such a wonderful daughter. I couldn’t imagine you any other way. You are a blessing to every life you touch.
Thanks autism, for my blueberry-eyed, creative, magical, loving, and silly Jessica. If you didn’t give me the beautiful parts of Jessica, I would never be able to laugh through the hard days.
Love,
Mommy
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