Today’s blog is written by my good friend, Constance Tenhawks. 

Constance is an elder who recently discovered she is on the autism spectrum. Now she is on a new journey of discovery and reflection.

Like the last stroke of a paintbrush, her diagnosis has made everything align for her.

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Cheryl asked me to write something inspirational for her blog page.

This ain’t gonna go so well, I thought to myself.   But I told her, sure, I’ll write something but no guarantees it will have a happy ending.”

See, I think inspiration has nothing to do with happy endings.   Being inspired is the quality of continuing day by day without the expectation of a happy ending.  As much as I hate the word “journey” I’m going to use it here.  It’s the journey, not the destination.  

If you are a woman in my age group living in a cyclical fashion of specific responses to specific life experiences, you might find yourself in the category of late diagnosed autism.   By the time you figure it out you may find yourself as living with the nagging idea that there is something wrong with you.  

This is as far as I got when I first started writing this until later in the day when a memory appeared on my Facebook page.   “These are consoling things, to see modern life as something bright in spite of its inevitable griefs.” – Vincent Van Gogh

So, in the darkness of winter, I started to think about the bright things that shine no matter how dark it gets.   And what gets dark is when you think about autism as a unique cultural experience in the land where the majority culture is so different and that you truly are a stranger.   I am a stranger.

Every day I get a text about the seasons from a marvelous online calendar.   Every day I find out how much longer or shorter the day is from yesterday.   Last year after the shortest day of the year, otherwise known as winter solstice, the day was longer by a second.   By the time summer solstice comes around the day increases by more than 6 hours.   What a marvelous thing! This just happens, we don’t have to do anything about it! The seasons roll along in the cosmic plan where we can rely on in its consistency.   This is exactly what someone with autism needs.   Consistency in a reliable pattern offered day by day.   The brightest thing of all.

~ Constance Tenhawks

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