Always a Day Late and $5 Short

With inflation, it can no longer be just a $1 short, can it?

I neglected to post anything about Veteran's Day. How shameful, since I'm a second generation military brat, my brothers were military and I married military man. My two grandfathers were in World Wars. My father in Vietnam and my husband in Dessert Storm. Amazing that all men came back alive and uninjured from wars.

So, here is a picture of Jonathan with his daddy, the day his dad retired from the Navy.

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A couple months ago I wrote this review for a great little booklet for parents of children newly diagnosed with autism. I've spent the last two months "fighting" with the website to publish it. I gave up. I'll publish it here. It is ashame because the other website had more readers. So if you think this booklet is as great as I do, please get the word out. Here is the never been previously published article:

When my husband I walked out of the doctor's office with a diagnosis of "autism" for our middle child, I wish the doctor had handed me something like Same Child, Different Day, a booklet I've recently learned about.  The author Jon R. Gilbert writes on the back cover,  "This booklet was written by the family of a child with autism. It is meant to provide a little insight into what you could expect during the first year after the diagnosis, based on our own experiences. Your results will vary."

My husband and I were driving past past the mailbox on our way to "date night." I made him stop to see if the envelop I'd been waiting for had arrived. I opened it eagerly and read through the table of contents as my husband drove to the restaurant. I laughed out loud and had to start reading the chapter titles to my husband to let him in on the joke. Even though we'd been living with the diagnosis of autism in the family for six years, just the titles brought back memories. 

Gilbert starts each chapter with practical information and ends each chapter with a story from their own family. The first chapter states his purpose. "Over the course of the year following Nolan's diagnosis we encountered many situations where we could have benefited from some simple, fluff-free, honest direction. Circumstances arose (and are still arising) where we could have used some insider information, a simple heads-up or a fair warning." Then he dives right in with Nolan's first haircut. My husband and I laughed until we cried because we could have written the same story. And yes, it would've been great to have some insider information or a heads up BEFORE we entered that situation.

Same Child, Different Day is a great source for information when you are first walking out the doctor's office in shock and don't know where to turn first. Gilbert has a few pages defining soon to be familiar terms and concepts. I even learned some new ones after six years of my own reading and research into autism. He provides some well-respected and acknowledged resources by way of websites, books and mailing addresses. He also gives some insight into the lifestyle changes, the attitudes you'll face in public, the meltdowns the child will have and hints at the toll it starts to take on the family.

I like the booklet because it is factual, neutral and still upbeat. The growing awareness of autism being diagnosed in one out of 150 children has made the subject emotional, political, and sometimes, controversial. I respect the fact Gilbert touches on these areas without making you aware of his own opinions. Because of this, I believe this booklet would be beneficial to have in all medical practices, educational settings and organizations dealing with autism, especially for those families first entering into this new and scary world.

The book is reasonably priced and available for bulk rates. For more information contact Jon Gilbert at his website by the same name Same Child, Different Day.

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Dawn, Rich and Hubby, please skip this section, I'm going to behave unbecomingly as an elder's wife:

Background: I submitted this review to a website which published 10 previous articles. Three times I received an email from the editorial staff telling me how I needed to fix it to meet their guidelines. Three times I fixed my article according to their suggestions. Then I received a fourth "we'd love to run this article after you fix..." email. I withdrew my submission because it wasn't worth the aggravation. Every submission took 10-20 days before I received a response. 

Today: As I'm copying and pasting my review of Jon's booklet into my blog, my Inbox rings to alert me to incoming mail. It is an acceptance email for my first PAID article. Not only that, but I received a response within 24 hours of submission! 

Unbecoming behavior: I'm churning butter and sticking my tongue out at the invisible editorial staff. After about an hour of gloating, Scott says, "It's only $15." Not to be dampened by a wet blanket thrown at me, I respond, "I feel so validated. Someone paid for something I love to do anyway." It's been two decades since I've been paid to write. (I've written for TV news broadcasts, school papers, a small daily paper and finally as a freelance writer for a large metropolitan paper from high school through my early twenties. When I realized my annual salary as a reporter wasn't even as much as my annual tuition for college, I changed careers.)

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Today's blogger award came from Lynn at Midday Escapades. It is called the Superior Scribbler Award. Ever since I saw this award popping up on other blogs, I've coveted it. (Oops, another thing Dawn, Rich and Hubby didn't need to see.) Thanks, Lynn! Here are the rules for this award:

Superior Scribbler Award

1. Each Superior Scribbler I name today must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving bloggy friends.

2. Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.

3. Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog. (I'll do this when I change blogs soon.)

4. Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

I'm forwarding this wonderful award onto Maternal Instincts, To Sleep or Not to Sleep, The Roc Chronicles, Pipecleaner Dreams, and I'm a Pixie Mama.