Things really hit home that last few days with Charlottesville. I wasn’t really paying attention to the news or Facebook over the weekend until Sunday, really. I was distraught but not surprised. That evening I wanted to take Collin with me to the vigil and i didnt know how he’d react since there were going to be so many candles. We have been practicing blowing out bday candles and just went to a couple bdays the day before so I wanted to give him some advanced notice and explain the difference between a vigil and a birthday.

After showing him pictures of vigils, I started to say, “a vigil is when something bad/sad happens and people light candles… they don’t blow out the candles because they are showing their support..” Half way into it i just started to choke up. I could get through it. This moment, this period, of explicit white terrorism / white supremacy is so toxic it hits us in all kinds of ways. It also made me realize how much is at stake for all we do and the kind of world we want to build for ourselves and future generations.

Thank you all for making me stronger everyday. I’m learning how to take care and what to take on in this moment. We’ve got a lot of work to do, a lot of trauma to heal and have a lot of distractions to navigate. Lets get free and keep our eyes on the prize. And thank you to all the parents out there — I’m looking to you all on how to raise our kiddos, especially awesome autistics, in these times.

(Image of Collin at a Charlottesville vigil holding his candle which is on a tiny makeshift plastic tray. We didn’t really last long at the Vigil, a lot for a almost 3 year old but it was worth the effort.)

(Edited version. Originally posted on facebook on August 16, 2017)