Hope & "Well, Ya Do Now!"

A little look-see into life with my son

Hope Matters

Before I begin this hopeletter, here are 2 things you need to know prior to diving in. One of Son’s (This is how I’ll refer to him for the time being.) favorite movies is The Lion King, and he’s a voice-acting enthusiast.

A few weeks ago Son and I were traveling to his equine therapy appointment. As we’re cruising down the highway, he says to me in his I-need-to-give-you-this-bit-of-trivia way, “Did you know, Jeremy Irons, the guy who voiced Scar, lost his voice while singing ‘Be Prepared,’ and Jim Cummings had to finish the song?” Intrigued, I said, ‘No. I didn’t know that.’ He looks at me and says, “Well, ya do now!” and smirked and chuckled a little. I just laughed and kept driving.

So, for a guy diagnosed with autism - particularly this one - this tongue-in-cheek response has significance and is totally hilarious to me. But, what was more significant was what he said. I began to reflect on our lives together and realized that so much of it had resulted in, “Well, ya do now.” I made choices for me, for him. Sometimes, they ended like I wanted them; sometimes they didn’t. In life, when things don’t turn out like we thought, we have a tendency to say things like, “Well, I didn’t know…”

Well, ya do now!

Now that you know, what are you going to do with that? For me, it has often been to learn from what happened, and do the thing differently or not at all. I despise that rotten feeling of missing the mark (Can you tell I’m a high achiever?). And these mistakes, situations, circumstances, I don’t care to repeat. Especially in child-rearing, these moments come so much more often than I’d like. Can you imagine me (with my high-achieving self) constantly feeling as if I’m failing at parenting? *facepalm*

Here’s what I’ve learned. I’ve done a much better job than I give myself credit for, because I took the well-ya-do-now, prayed, made a different decision, and hoped for the best. Let me be clear. Even as a single parent, for most of his life at this point, I’ve not done this without considerable help and loads of hoping and praying he hit pivotal milestones by a certain time.

Please don’t think I have it all together. Currently, he and I are just out here winging it. Figuring out things as we go and hoping and praying for great outcomes. Hope is keeping us afloat. Hope is causing us to rise, even in uncertainty.

Here’s hoping. ☕️

Coffee Matters

If you’re one of those people who can’t wait for fall to roll around and love all things pumpkin-spiced, you might want to brace yourself for what you’re about to read next. Pumpkin-spiced and pumpkin-flavored things can all go sit down somewhere. I do not like them. The only thing pumpkin-flavored I like is actual pumpkin. Now, with my close set, I’m known for making absolutely delicious pumpkin cookies practically every year. These are special, because I roast the pumpkin myself (Bye, cans.).

Now, you might be wondering where I’m going with this, since this is supposed to be about coffee. Well…my favorite local coffee shop just introduced a new seasonal flavored coffee, Pumpkin Cream. When I saw the beans on display, I immediately turned my nose up and said, ‘Never mind.’ However, I’m not above a taste and waited for them to have it on drip, so I could get a teeny taste to justify my loathing of yet another pumpkin-flavored thing. Rewind to last Saturday, they had it on drip. Of course, I asked to taste it.

Guess what? It tasted just like pumpkin. I swear. I was floored! This wasn’t some pumpkin-flavored concoction with too much nutmeg and cinnamon, but PUMPKIN! As a matter of fact, it reminded me of my pumpkin cookies. So…bought a cup and sucked it down. I’ll be buying a bag of beans to enjoy throughout the season, because I pumpkin sparingly. 😁

What are you hoping and sipping this week?

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