Where does the time go

March FIRST… Goodness where does the time go. Last week I was in Maui, with 80 degree days, ocean, swimsuit, snorkeling with turtles and watching Humpback Whales. Today, there's about 1.5 inches of snow on the ground. Schools delayed 2.5 hours, my legs are not wanting to move for me today and tonight is a night I've been waiting for since December.
Tonight I was going to be taking Dalton to the Miami game, a gift for his birthday in December.
Dalton turned eleven, ELEVEN. That means we've been in our house eleven years. We have been friends with the Nielsens for eleven years. I have put all three of the kids on the bus through their grade school years. Gosh, it seems kind of crazy how time flies.

Speaking of time flying by. Twelve years ago today was the first official day of Tara living with us. Even though she had been with us on and off since the beginning of February my contract started March 1, 2000. Goodness, to look back… it's hard to remember how different things were for Miss. Tara. When going to Day Break Park on a daily basis was required. When going to Red Robin would result in food all over her hair due to her fear of balloons. When throwing her shoes, screaming, pinching and hitting herself were almost daily occurrences. WOW, it's been a great twelve years. I recall our first Trip together. We road tripped over to Glacier National Park over Memorial Day weekend. Poor kiddo, she didn't know us very well yet. We stayed in a Yurt I don't think she slept. I awoke in the morning needing a quick run to the restroom. So jumped out of bed, run out the door and start the car to drive to the restroom… HEY it was COLD.
I get back and Samantha tells me… "Tara jumped off the top bunk, ran to the door and said; "HEEEYYYY???!!". I told her I was still here and that you just went to the bathroom, Tara turned around and went back to bed without missing a beat."
Back then MM's were her favorite thing. We decided to take he Going to the Sun Road, which had just opened for the season the day prior. It's a beautiful drive through the National Park. We hiked a little, took lots of photos and stopped at the lodge for some great bread. We decided to drive the long way back and ended up going through to get our photo in ALBERTA just so we could say we did it. Picked up some stray dogs on the hwy going through the indian reservation. (realized they are all stray dogs, that belong to someone… so took them to the area we found them) Helped some folks with their broken down car. Finally as dark was coming down and Tara had really had enough the search was on. We NEEDED MM's. How do you explain to a human with Autism that the stores don't seem to be open and that the only store that was didn't have MM's. As we are driving towards our yurt in the middle of nowhere Montana, Tara is working very hard to get it together and she blurts out "its a BEAutiFUL NIGHT" words we kept saying because, well it WAS. She was saying it in a way to maybe warn us that our beautiful night was just about over. I'm not sure how we made it out of that one but somehow we did. Needless to say we always made sure we had a back up package from then on out.

Today Tara doesn't need to have MM's to make her life better. She doesn't require a daily drive to Day Break Park and she doesn't have daily melt downs. She has grown and is still growing. She is a mold breaker when it comes to what people think of when they think Autism. Of course this isn't to say that her Autism doesn't affect her in a negative way, but it is to say it's less and less all the time. She has found ways to let us know before she really blows to let us know, however subtle if you listen she gives you all the info you need to help her through. She is NOT captive by scheduling. She is more than capable of living in the moment. She knows that a change in plans usually means that the new plan is going to be so much better than what was planned.
Tara is an advocate for herself and people like her. She understands what it means when meeting with legislators not only on a local level but also a National one. She loves church and the people at church. Her favorite part of church is sharing the peace. Saying hello to everyone and shaking their hands. Her smile so big. She loves to be a greeter at the church doors, even when it's not her week.
We travel a lot. Tara loves to go in the Van. She loves to sit in the farthest seat back. Whenever we start to pack our bags she gets so excited about the adventure we are going to be going on. She is a trooper and understands my need to leave by 4am when heading out of Disneyland. She loves going to National Parks as much as Samantha and I do and quite possibly she may love cruising the ocean blue more than we do. Her favorite vacation is Disneyland. It's like a home away from home for her. She knows it like the back of her hand. She loves taking people she cares about to Disneyland. It's like she gets a kick out of seeing people go on rides and if you get wet on a ride, she is HAPPY!

Yep twelve years today. Twelve years of learning. Twelve years of growing. Twelve years of FUN. For a gal who said in high school that her dream job would be to live with a person with Autism it has been literally a dream come true. Tara has given me so much more than I can ever hope to give her. I think we make a good team. I love her dearly.