Charlie is 7 years old. When he was 10 months old he started to use words, and at a year old he could read his favorite books and count to 10. His regression into his “wonderland” started when he was between 12 and 18 months old, at which time he lost his speech completely. Charlie was diagnosed with autism at age 4.

Not that this matters to him, mind you, he just lives his life and doesn’t give any thought at all to any labels doctors have put behind his name. He’s the best kid in the world. He takes his medications (and there is a lot of it), suffers through testing and doctor’s visits, and hours of various therapies (when he’d much rather be taking my vacuum cleaner apart).

He loves all things technical, especially computers.  He has been known to disassemble electronics down to hundreds of pieces. He is, let’s call it, “extremely curious” of how things work.  His all-time favorite pastime though is Legos… we have millions of them. We probably have enough to build a life-size house!

Charlie loves listening to music. Check out his playlist for some really cool stuff and an insight into what he considers to be “good music”.  He started talking, counting to 10, and reading when he was just under one year old. He quit talking when he was 18 months old and didn’t pick it back up again until 4 years old (thanks to DAN!).

Most importantly, Charlie is a loving, happy, funny kid who enjoys every day of his life. I like to think of him as my little Buddha – a living reminder of the value of being present in the moment. Forget the past, it’s over. Don’t worry about the future, it’ll never get here. It’s always NOW.

Of course this philosophy is easier said than done for me. I live in a constant internal (and sometimes – ahem – external) state of agitation and anxiety. In other words, I am 40 years old; but since 40 is the new 30, I guess I can live with this fact. I am a stay at home mom who devotes every waking moment to all things autism. My number one goal in life is to recover my kid! And I will. Just you watch me.

In those rare moments I find time for myself, I enjoy writing, photography, reading, and sipping on a little wine – only during “Happy Hour” hours so don’t call HRS on me yet! I hope to one day look back on my son’s experience with autism and understand the WHY and HOW COME of it all. One thing I do know is there are lessons here, I’m learning them every day.