Tales Of An Educated Debutante
on life, loss and the joy that rules the day.
The future is far away and scary, but today is lovely.
Adrian H. Wood, PhD
Keeping Score
Sunday, June 04, 2017 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)
Not me. Not his dad. Not his teacher. Only him. He keeps his own score and no matter our words or reassurance, he won't let the number go. Don't baby him, some say. You can't keep him in a bubble forever, others scoff. You'll have to let him fail sometime, you tell me. Well, I don't agree, not when the subject still calls me mommy, the eleven year old boy who often leans in for a hug and asks to sleep in our bed when daddy is gone. That boy will be thrown to the wolves over my dead body ..
Read moreTen Reasons College Friends Are Your Best Friends
Saturday, June 03, 2017 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)
1. 20,000 hours. Time spent taking care of no one, thinking about no one and doing whatever the Hell you wanted minus a few classes. 2. Clothes were a community item. In fact, you may as well have not purchased any items, as it was much more delightful to scavenge through another's old crappy t-shirt collection, stolen stand up shorts and rainbows. 3. Privacy was not a thing. Changing clothes, trying on a zillion bathing suits, and best of all, talking to unsuspectin ..
Read moreStop the EOG Madness
Friday, June 02, 2017 Adrian H. Wood Comments (9)
Today I got a phone call from my third-grade son who was in the kind nurse's office and crying. He proceeded to tell me about his jaw and how it was really hurting. I asked if he wanted to come home and he replied that he didn't think he could because of EOGs. Of course you can, I said, it's just a test. If I don't pass, I won't go to fourth grade. I told him that wasn't true. I got a letter telling me that you're going to fourth grade, I said. I lied. How did it come to this? ..
Read moreGoodbye to the School Year From A Special Needs Mama
Friday, June 02, 2017 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)
Flowers. Three vases. A mix of gardenias, hydrangea, and a few pilfered lilies. Confidingly, a meager offering for a mother's reassurance. Not just a safe place to fall, but a classroom that has been nothing short of miraculous. A year ago, we were prepping ourselves for Amos's entry into school. It was a choice that required no choosing, yet kindled despair and defeat in the family confounded once again by heavy irony. One can not escape the swallowing of pride required when your heart ..
Read moreThe Other Woman
Friday, May 19, 2017 Adrian H. Wood Comments (2)
He has another woman. Three of them actually, but one is particularly fond of my little blond boy with the funny gait, a boy of few words. It is her face which lights up at the very sight of him. He has another woman. Many a morning we walk into school and he lurches forward out of my arms and into hers. It is her who gives him a warm place to snuggle when I'm not there. He has another woman. He crawled in my bed this morning and took my hand, placed it on his back, and starti ..
Read moreThose Hands
Tuesday, May 16, 2017 Adrian H. Wood Comments (1)
I hadn't expected to see them ever again. The last year of his life, I spent hours holding one or the other, running my identical fingers over his smooth cool skin, in hopes for a squeeze. The squeezes came less and less often and finally, that hot July day, they came no more. The brother with whom I shared so many things, laughter and love and childhood secrets, was gone and so were the hands that mirrored my own. I've quite missed those hands. They were integral in my memory of th ..
Read moreDefine Healthy Baby
Monday, May 15, 2017 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)
"As long as its healthy," I heard in the years before I became a mother and though I wasn't writing, I was still thinking. Words flow and land on the listener and often times, we are not even aware of their effect on others. We should be though, not in a hyper vigilant, politically correct sort of way, but a place of empathy, eyes and heart open to the needs and lives of others. Spilling catch phrases comes easily, but words can be thorns. For those that didn't or don't or will not have ..
Read moreBe the One
Sunday, May 14, 2017 Adrian H. Wood Comments (1)
Be the one that goes under because she knows wet hair is a small price to pay for rapturous giggles. Be the one that looks for snakes under rocks and flings her bathing suit clad self on the slip and slide as she hopes for survival because she is making memories. Be the one that knows the most precious gifts are made from scraps of paper, dabs of glue, sprinkled glitter and a kind heart because those are the ones you will tuck away so as to remember. Be the one that eats fr ..
Read moreTen Mother's Day Quotes
Sunday, May 14, 2017 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)
1. It's Mother's Day and you're making me yell. 2. You're complaining and I'm not relaxing. 3. Can you people just not fight for one tiny day? 4. I'm trying to be nice but I'm about to beat you. 5. It's hard to be thankful for you when you're kicking him. 6. Can y'all just let me be? 7. It's so fun being a mother (I said this before getting out of bed.) 8. That is not a real present; it's a plastic cup from your Sunday school teacher. 9. Next year I' ..
Read moreTen Struggles of A Special Needs Mama
Friday, May 12, 2017 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)
1. My child is in diapers. Nobody goes to school in diapers, people say laughingly, but my son does. It's not too bad except there's no place to change him except the floor of a bathroom. Changing tables are meant for babies, not long limbed children. 2. My child doesn't sit still in restaurants. Nope, he wanders and explores and likely will come over to investigate your table; autism doesn't play by the rules of etiquette. 3. Getting a sitter is not so easy. To ..
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