Category: defining moments

• April 24, 2025

  Childhood, childhood trauma, defining moments, Disability & Chronic Illness, Family Trauma, Late Diagnosed Autism, Life & Home, Mental Health & Trauma, Personal Reflections, Survival Stories

  I Was Just a Kid…and the Pavement is What Hurt the Most

  I had a little Winnie the Pooh push car — the kind you straddle with your legs, scoot forward using your feet, and steer with handlebars. It was a cheap kind of freedom, that feeling of pushing forward down the sidewalk, pretending it was something bigger than it was. The sidewalk wasn’t in great shape…
• April 23, 2025

  Childhood, childhood trauma, defining moments, Family Trauma, Late Diagnosed Autism, Mental Health & Trauma

  I Was Just a Kid…Kindergarten

  Five small streets from school — Nelson Elementary in Niles, Illinois. I walked there and back alone. It sounds strange now, but this was Gen X life: latchkey kids, street smarts by necessity, and a childhood spent mostly unaccompanied. Each street had a crossing guard. And one day, I met one named Allison. She was…