Hope.

It's been a busy few days. Lots of subbing classes, lots of taking the kids to the pool (thank G-d we have one here!), lots of sweating. Another triple-digit heatwave, which is not helping the firefighters. Kinda makes a person feel helpless.
But the main thing is that my SIL is getting married a week from Saturday!!!!!!! We had her shower this past Sunday, and it was fun (and hot). There was a woman there who used to be a nurse, and worked with a lot of Autistic patients. She was really taken with my daughter (my son, smart guy that he is, saw all the women heading into the house, grabbed his favorite DVD, and went upstairs to hang out with his grandad). But the way she interacted with my little girl, and the things she said, made me believe that there is hope.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a gloomy-gus about my kids' futures. I'm actually quite optimistic. But to meet someone who believes my kids are truly special and not just "special" means a lot. She understood my daughter in a soul-bonding kind of way (not to get too woo-woo) and my daughter really connected with her. This woman recognizes the almost psychic bond we have because my daughter doesn't speak yet (but she definitely communicates!), and she said that she, like me, always wonders what profound things are going on in their minds.
I'm probably not explaining this very well, but I think my point is that most of the time Autism and other developmental disabilities are seen as a huge burden, and I wish we could adjust our thinking to see them as merely different. My kids are different. They develop differently, and they play and interact differently, and we will do everything in our power to mainstream them, but they will, most likely, always have Autism.
And that's OK. It's just another aspect of who they are.