I’m almost 45. We have one kid. Today is his birthday, actually. He’s autistic and has a genetic issue that caused a lot of physical anomalies that resulted in lengthy hospital stays when he was first born. He had to have heart surgery at six weeks, along with a few other procedures. It was a long first year. We were so excited to finally come home from the hospital.
He has a significant conductive hearing loss, but can hear well with hearing aids. He didn’t eat orally until he was 2. We’ve spent 14 years trying to teach him all the things that come normally to most kids, all while trying to work through numerous behavior challenges. My wife homeschools him. She works so hard with him.
He is so capable, if we could ever lick the behavior stuff, which is improving, and move him forward socially, which is also improving. He’s 14 today. It’s an exhausting life, and it’s been a long 14 years.
Being a parent is nothing like I ever imagined the experience would be like. But that’s like a lot of things in life, isn’t it? You deal with the circumstances you have and move forward. It’s all you can do. Anyway, at the end of the day, God is good. Without the strength and peace He has provided to us, we wouldn’t have made it. I’m very blessed to have a son. He’s an amazing boy and he is an amazing testimony to God’s mercy and goodness.
