Blue

Today I'm wearing blue for Autism Awareness Day. According to www.autismspeaks.org, 67 million people worldwide are affected by autism. For more information about autism, and for early signs of autism, click here.

Photo: Willis Tower on Light It Up Blue for autism awareness

Like I've said before, my younger sister has a rare genetic neurological disorder called Angelman's Syndrome, which means that she essentially functions at the age of a two or three year old, and cannot communicate with us in the usual fashion. While Angelman's Syndrome is not a subtype of autism, it shares many of the same characteristics, and often children with Angelman's are also diagnosed with autism.

When I was growing up, my mom enrolled my sister in the same public school that my brother and I went to, so that our friends and the rest of the community would know our sister, be aware of her disorder and treat her like they would treat any other person. This was an important aspect of my childhood, because when my friends would come to play they would always greet my sister (even though it was rare for her to return the greeting) and they never stared or acted funny around her like kids can so often do. Simply put, because of my sister's involvement in our community, she was always accepted and welcomed, which was a blessing for our whole family.

Are you wearing blue today?

L. Stacks

My Maid of Honor

One of the things that has been the hardest for me during this wedding-planning journey hasn't necessarily been figuring out the guest list, or choosing the caterer or even finding a wedding dress. Instead, the one thing that I keep thinking about is how to carve a place for my sister on my important day.

For those of you who don't know, my sister is a beautiful, happy, 21-year-old. She lives at home with my parents, is in school, and loves watching movies and sleeping. But she has Angelman's Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder on the autistic spectrum, and basically what this means is that she functions more like a three-year-old, and has a hard time with even the most basic communication. She is, and always will be my one conundrum: my intricate riddle, my question that has no answer. While she is often the topic of many of my creative nonfiction essays, like this post's excerpt, I know that no matter how much exploring I do, I'll never be able to figure her, or our relationship, out.

It seems that, lately, it's most common for brides and grooms to choose their siblings as their maid of honor or best man. And I love that. Family members are built-in friends, and people that will always be there, so why not give them important positions on the important wedding day? I struggled for a long time trying to decide what my sister's role would be in my wedding. I knew that I wanted her to stand up for me--yet, for her, to stand up for a long period of time is about as easy as it is for a three-year-old to sit still. And, quite frankly, I worried about her being in front of a group of people... would those who didn't know her stare? would she interrupt the service with one of her favorite phrases, don't argue with me?

And so, I decided that she would, indeed, stand up, but while sitting next to my parents. And I made an even bigger decision, too. I had been constantly wishing that I could have a sister who could be my maid of honor, and after talking to my fiance about it, he said to me, "Then have your sister as your maid of honor. We can figure out the toasts and all that later." And it was as easy as that. Simply because Paige can't throw me a bachelorette party, or give an eloquent speech before dinner doesn't mean that I can't still give her the title that I want her to have.

This morning, as I was sitting with her on the couch, waiting to put her on the bus for school, she was singing along to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and bobbing her head back and forth to the music. Just seeing how happy she always is was a reminder that I had made a good choice. She will probably do so much more for me than most maids of honor--in her good personality and patient joy, I'm sure that she will remind me to simply be happy on the big day, like she always is.

L. Stacks

Some 'Splaning

I know, I know, I was doing so well. I had a nice little streak going there, blogging nearly every day for a couple of weeks. What happened to stop my productive blogginess? Well, here's some 'splaning:

One.

I've been working on a piece of flash creative nonfiction (yes, folks, that means that it's under 1,000 words) about... peas. Well, about peas but also about my sister who has Angelman's Syndrome. Oh, and kind of about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I'm having fun with it--trying to be a little less serious, and a little silly.

Two.

So, I started watching Lost at the beginning of the summer, and needless to say, I tried to hold off until Christmas break before I let myself get completely up-to-date. However, I found myself in a moment of weakness, and watched the Season 5 premiere a few days ago. I haven't been able to stop since.

Three.

As I told you in my last post, I watched my little brother run in Michigan's High School State Finals two weekends ago. That's my brother, on the far left, leading. In fact, he took the lead at about the half-mile mark, and lead all the way until the finish. Not only was he the individual division 4 state champion, but his team also won the meet. It was hard to get the rest of my homework done that weekend, since my family and I were too busy celebrating the success of my brother--and the Concord guys' team!

Hope you all have had a lovely few weeks--and I'll try to keep you all posted as I head home for Thanksgiving break, finish out my third semester of my MFA, and start the holiday season!

L. Stacks