One stinkin’ Twizzler. That’s all it took to make me feel like a terrible dad this weekend.

I went to a family-friendly sports-bar type of place on Sunday afternoon with a friend of mine and my oldest son, Benjamin. Ben is coming up on 11. My daughter Ava is 6 and was home with my wife and my friend’s daughters. My 8-1/2-year-old son Jack** was also at home with some helpers we have for him.

** If you’ve never been here before, Jack is severely autistic. He’s the “Jack” in Operation Jack. My hobby is using running to help various causes, primarily fighting autism. And it’s all for him. Together we’re going to make this world a better place. So far, we’re getting there. Lemons => lemonade, you know? [Read more…]

Long time no write! I’m glad I remembered my password to get in here. Last time I blogged was in December, the day after the second-annual Operation Jack Marathon. I thought I was going to write a follow-up blog the next day. Yeah, maybe not.

Quick standard disclaimer, if you’ve never been here: I’m an ordinary guy, married father of three, and I go to work every day. My claim to fame is that I was the state math champion in the 6th grade. I also ran 61 marathons in 2010 to raise money for Train 4 Autism, because my middle child (8-year-old Jack) is severely autistic and there is nothing I wouldn’t do to take lemons and make lemonade.

In all fairness, I’ve been a little busy since then. Something about getting a new job and relocating my family to the Denver/Boulder, Colorado area. I started a new job here on March 1. But I got here three weeks before my wife and kids did, so I had to do everything I could in a hurry to prep for the move before driving out from California. Then, I spent three weeks trying to get settled in.*

* Getting settled in: I slept on an air mattress, ate oatmeal and frozen burritos and pirated wi-fi off a neighbor from my vacant house. No TV, no vegetables and no furniture other than two bar stools. [Read more…]

I’m not going to get into a lot of writing for this blog. I think the pictures I’m posting will say enough. Just in case you’ve never been to this site, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I decided I wanted to do something to try to make a difference so in 2010, I ran 61 full marathons to raise money for a charity I’m proud to be a part of called Train 4 Autism.

For a while, I used to think Jack never regressed, that he just never got there. It’s all been a blur for the past six years and I don’t really remember. But after looking at some pictures of him recently, I’m thinking my memory was off. It’s really hard to think about this, and I really don’t want to get on a big soapbox about vaccines, but it’s really hard to look at these pictures and think that we might have done this to him and ruined his life.

I’m not anti-vaccines. But I think you should be safe about them. Make sure your kiddo can handle them. That’s all I’m saying (for now).

[Read more…]