Going Up

If I had to use an analogy for parenting a child with autism, I'd compare it to a creaky staircase.

Chances are, if you've got a creaky staircase, along with the creaks, your staircase has some beautiful features, intricate woodwork, tonnes of character...in short, it's well worth a few squeaky treads.

Over time, with a little practice you learn to sidestep some of the louder squeaks in your travels, with experience, this doesn't even seem like work, you catch yourseld deftly dancing upwards, a little to the left or a little to the right with hardly a thought.  There's even been a few times you found yourself stumbling, but luckily you have that lovely railing to lend you support.

You even decide that a lot of repairs aren't all that necessary.  There's something rather fetching about some of these little creaks and groans, they've grown on you, it's become impossible to seperate them from the beauty of that stiarcase.  You no longer want to.  They are your stairs after all.

You probably have friends who bought houses about the same time as you.  Some of these homes have sleek modern staircases.  Upon visiting them you often marvel at their efficiency, and how easily you can make your way up and down.  But you can't help but feel that they're missing something, perhaps a little too mainstream for your taste.

The great thing about your staircase is that its charm has become as much a part of your travels as the journey itself.  A journey that always gets you where you need to go, even with a few obstacles along the way, a journey that has somehow taught you how to dance... and a journey that is always going up.