I have always had this dream to open up my own center for children with Autism. I’ve had this dream for many years, even way before having my own child with Autism. Through the years, what this center would look like has changed and became more just a dream and never anything I would actually do. Again, this was before I had Courtney.

Over the past few years the idea has started creeping up again to the point where I now think about it often. It’s gone from a dream to how can I make this happen. Now slow down a second…to my co-workers, this isn’t my resignation (not even close). To my husband, I realize we have hours, upon hours, upon hours of discussions on this that we need to have. This is more me saying that I want this to happen.

This still is at the “dream” stage but since it seems to be on my mind a lot, I’ve decided I want to start looking at what I would want in a center or even organization, what it would look like, and what would it take to make this happen. It’s time for me to see if my dream can become a reality at some point.

Courtney has taught me so much over these few years. As a parent, I am learning that there are resources that are needed for children on the spectrum. What I’ve learned even more is that there are resources is parents need. One thing that has helped me as a parent is finding others in a similar journey and becoming friends. I say all the time though that it’s parents of children with special needs who need that bonding time with others like them but it’s these parents that have the least amount of time to make that work. Recently this has become where I would start with a center/organization. So much out there is geared towards the child. How can I help the parents? Happy mom means happy family, right?

Again, this is just me stating it’s time for me to stop thinking this has a dream but more as a goal. This is me continuing to fight for not only Courtney but other families on a similar journey.