Saturday was my birthday. I’m 52. Or as my twelve-year-old son said to his younger cousin last night, “Do you understand how old she is?” A look of confusion lingered on his cousin’s face. Then, apparently tiring of her lack of response, Nic said in a grave tone, “She’s fifty-two.” There was a moment of silence and then to be sure he’d left no room for error he added, “Fifty two years old.” His cousin looked at me with raised eyebrows and what I imagined to be a new-found appreciation or maybe it was horror, it’s impossible to know what an eight year old, having been given this sort of news, might think.
I figure I’m at the halfway point, though my husband would say I’m being unrealistic as he fully intends to live… forever. Yeah, you read that right. As in eternity. I’m not as optimistic. However, I like the idea of having reached the halfway mark, forget that I felt I was at the halfway point last year and the year before and the year before that too… But let’s just say I’m right, that would mean I’ve got another 52 years ahead of me. And I don’t know about you, but I fully intend to make good use of them! Because the first 35 or so I kind of made a mess of. There’s good reason I have a 12-year-old and 10-year-old when many of my same age friends have children graduating from high school and college. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for my past, I’ve learned a great deal. I just wouldn’t want to do any of it over again. I really like being 52. I like being where I now find myself. But mostly I really like my life.
Birthdays are a time of celebration, but more than anything they’re a milestone of how far we’ve come. At least that’s how I like to think of them. I’ve come far in 52 years, but this last year has been more significant than any other year to date. It has been within the last year that I have completely changed how I see my daughter. And that change has unexpectedly altered my view of the world and my life. I don’t know that any other single thing has changed my thinking and views of life and the world as quickly, dramatically or completely. There have certainly been milestones – getting help for my eating disorder, stopping my bulimia and anorexia and getting sober are two examples of significant change. And while the actual stopping of an action happens in a single moment, real change occurs over many such moments, repeated over and over. The larger changes that take place as a result of those repeated actions or inactions can take years to recognize. It is, as they say, a slow recovery.
My introduction into the world Autistics inhabit and talk about, was swift, abrupt and in many ways, more life altering than anything I’ve ever experienced. I am still reeling from the force with which this knowledge has transformed my life and the lives of my immediate family. As a result, I have never been so happy. I have never felt so hopeful. I have never been so sure we are on the right path. I have never enjoyed my family as much as I do now. Most surprisingly, my happiness is not because Emma has become a “normal” child. On the contrary, my happiness is, in large part, because she is not. I view her with wonder, without judgement and an open mind. I have learned to see her as neurologically different, not wrong or broken or in need of fixing.
I no longer speak of Emma as though she cannot hear me or understand me. When she doesn’t answer or walks away when I’m talking to her I no longer assume she’s not interested in what I have to say. I have learned to examine all of my assumptions. I have learned to question everything, and I mean literally everything I think or think I know. At my friend Ib’s urging I’ve begun reading Autism and the Myth of the Person Alone by Douglas Biklen. This book, like so many that I’ve read in recent months, throws everything we neurotypicals think and say about autism and Autistics out the window. Judy Endow, just posted a terrific piece entitled, Seeing Beyond My Autism Diagnosis. She talks about the lens through which NTs view Autistics and writes: “Stereotypical views of autism are based on the neurotypical (NT) assignment of “truth” as they look at us.”
One of the greatest gifts I’ve received this past year is the joy that has come with questioning my “truth” when it comes to Emma. In questioning it I have found my sense of humor. It never entirely left me, more like it had been tamped down by stress and worry. To laugh, to really feel the absurdity of situations that used to cause me tremendous upset and concern, to feel the carefree pleasure of being with my family and enjoying them… this is the life I had always hoped for, but felt would never be mine.
Yeah. I turned fifty-two on Saturday and I’ve never been happier.
The vanilla cake with raspberry icing Em and I made. Nic and Emma decorated it by writing everyone’s name on it. And yes, it was delicious!
Beautiful Em wearing one of her pretty dresses
Emma's Hope Book 
Love this ~ “Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.” ~ Jerry Rice 😀
Happy Birthday! I am so glad you’re happy. May 52 be a great year for you. 🙂
(((E)))
Happy birthday to you.
A warm glow emanates from your post. Hope, cheer, and balance increase in value when it takes time to find them.
I am glad to have met you, Ariane. Your genuine introspection wakes up my brain and gives me new perspectives. I laugh with you. 🙂
Lori
Aww Lori. So happy to have met you too. It’s good to laugh with friends!
WHoooooosh! The sound of Emma blowing your candles out. Yet again. From your immortal husband. Love you. Admire you. Retweet you.
Ha! Em totally beat me to the punch! She was so fast, I hadn’t even inhaled when all those candles were already blown out! Makes me laugh just thinking about it! Love to you oh wonderfully funny partner of mine.
Happy, happy birthday, Ariane! What a beautiful post. I only hope someday I can find a place of peace and contentment as you have. (I just turned 39 – maybe I just need a few years?) 😉
Oh Angie,
You are SO far ahead of me at 39! Be patient with yourself. You’re getting there. And here’s another link… (just kidding!) 😀
Ariane, I am so NOT. Trust me. I don’t know that I’ll ever get there. But those are comments for another day, don’t want to rain on your Happy Birthday comments! (And you know I am striving to read all the links you provide….tsk, tsk!)
When I was in my first 6 months of recovery from being bulimic, an older woman came up to me (after I’d just gone on a rant about something I can no longer remember about what) and said, “Let us love you until you can love yourself.” I was so put off by this stranger who, it seemed to me should be minding her own business, and anyway I hate those kinds of cliches, I think I walked away without a word. But I kept coming back to this same meeting that this woman attended and eventually I understood what she meant. I let others in and I (begrudgingly) let them show me what it was to love myself despite my mistakes, despite my anger, despite my resentments, despite all the things about me that I had deemed unworthy and unlovable. Decades later, I understand what she meant. But I never would have if I hadn’t kept searching, looking, talking, reading and listening.
That’s what you’re doing, Angie. No one forces you to come to this blog, I can’t come over to where you live and make you read all the links I keep sending. You’re doing that, all on your own. You don’t have to. But you are, Angie. You are.
Happy Birthday Wonderful You!!
Hugs,
Leah
Oh Leah! My partner in crime.. We are cooking up all kinds of great things.. at least we think so, right?!
Oh yes!! Together – we are diabolical (in a good way!)
Happy Birthday! A day of reflection is often how my birthdays lately have been spent, perhaps that is common as we get older and have more to look back on! 🙂 Right on about loving where you are. I think that is the gift of middle age. Okay, so I will take the slightly stiffer joints for the much more limber thinking that also comes! Relax, enjoy and know it will all be okay!!! I really think you are. 🙂
“I will take the slightly stiffer joints for the much more limber thinking..” love that, Charlotte. 😀
Happy Belated Birthday Ariane, you are at peace with life and what better gift could you ever hope to have at 52!
Thank you Jules!
Happy Birthday, Ariane. May the following years bring you as many nice things as the previous one. I wish you good health, love, joy and happiness.
Kind regards,
Maja
Awww.. thank you so much Maja!
HAPPY 52 ARIANE!!!!!!!!! I recently just turned 42 and thanks to you, I myself am in a much happier place this year. My thirties had many highs but there are so many times during the diagnosis of Brett years, that I wish someone could have told me….”Breath…it will all be alright” I spent so much of that time a ball of stress. I have seen Judy Endow speak by the way….she is from Madison, WI…close to me. She is fascinating! May year 52 bring to you even more peace and happiness! ps…your cake looks yummy! :O)
B~
The cake is gone, a testament to its yumminess, the party’s over, we had such fun! Thanks for the birthday wishes, Becky and a happy belated birthday to you!! ((((Becky)))))
🙂 ❤
Thank you Amy! ❤ (For those who haven't read Amy's last piece, here it is – http://ollibean.com/2012/08/20/amy-sequenzia-friendship-and-respect/ )
Happy birthday! What a wonderful cake! I loved the way Nic discussed your age LOL.
Thanks Jane. Nic’s growing up to be quite a character!
A very happy birthday wish to you my lovely friend. Your post glows with the joy you describe, I’m so glad you’ve found it!
Me too! Thank you so much for the lovely b’day wish dear friend!
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