It Is Time

For a long time now I've struggled with how much to tell the world, to you, about our life. I was afraid to tell too much. I was afraid of what you might say. I was lost in my moment to moment struggle to survive the day.
Then the words of a friend said that maybe other people needed hope too. Maybe our words could help someone else just a little. Maybe another mom or dad was drowning in the invisible sea of mental illness and trying desperately to help their child too. As our words have helped each other, maybe they could help someone else.
So here we are now. Two moms who want to share the hope and strength we have found with each other. We don't have all the answers. Most days we are just struggling to make it from one moment to the next. But we know that struggle. We know the mental,  physical and emotional exhaustion. We know the strain it puts on relationships with spouses and friends and siblings. We know the isolation and the stigma that comes from have a child with special needs, with autism, with mental illness.
We have lived through both of our younger sons battling a horribly scary and debilitating autoimmune disorder called FPIES. Our boys survived and are thriving now. We thought we were done with the medical crisis and we thought our lives would show us normalcy. That was not to be the case. Instead, our lives were turned upside down and inside out. We are learning to re-navigate this life and we hope our words will help someone else too.