I love writing when I have have no clue what I’m going to write about. Today is one of those days. It’s Jack’s 10th birthday and all I know is I’m going to write a birthday post but I’m not sure what to say. I guess I’ll start with my standard preface and say that if you’ve never been here, click here to see what Operation Jack is about. My son Jack is the “Jack” in Operation Jack. He was born a decade ago and he’s severely autistic, still in diapers, still barely verbal, still having meltdowns and exhibiting self-injurious behaviors on a daily basis.
I’ve been writing a lot of “woe is me” and “woe is Jack” posts lately, but I’m not going to do that today. It’s not going to do any good. And I just don’t feel like it’s necessary. While I feel like he was robbed of his first 10 years, my wife Tiffany and I have fought hard to position him well for his next 10 years. We’ve learned a lot during the eight years we’ve been in this circle and we relocated 3,000 miles from our roots in California (after a one-year accidental detour in Colorado) to place him in a great school in Pennsylvania and surround ourselves with great people in a strong, local autism community. This next decade will be a LOT better that the past one.