Autism
My wife called me on my way to work this morning. In the background, I could hear my fourteen-year-old daughter complaining, quite loudly, because I had left the house. Our conversation was punctuated by my daughter screaming, "Daddy!" from the living room. Now, most of you with teenagers who read this won't be able to relate. Most teens would prefer their parents not be at home. In fact, most would prefer not to have contact with their parents at all until they are in their twenties. To use the vernacular of my generation: we're a drag. However, our daughter Sara's teenage years are flipped one-hundred-eighty degrees. We live in bizarro land also known as opposite world. Sara has autism. Now, there are varying degrees of autism ranging from difficulty with social interactions all the way up to a complete detachment from the physical world and an inability to communicate. Our daughter falls somewhere past the middle of the spectrum: she can spea...