My OG

This cake is plain with a side of plain which is how My OG lives. Inspired by the Classic Wedding Cake, this white almond cake taught me a new technique of making icing – it starts with hot water. Its perfection that took over 2 months of constant attention in the Test Kitchen. My OG came into my life a tad unexpectedly on a Halloween morning before dawn. I welcomed him because the day before this young mother tried her jetlagged best putting her first toddler into time out only to get bit on her collarbone in the home of the woman who probably invented the time out. Despite the surprise, I was delighted. My delight was punctuated with tears of despair a few years later when we received the diagnosis of autism. If you have a member of your family with Autism, you know what I am talking about. If you don’t. STOP – you have NO idea. Stop overgeneralizing. Having someone with autism in your family is a GIFT you will never have. My OG is nothing like other OGs. PLEASE don’t overgeneralize. My OG lights up my days and nights. My OG has surpassed all of my wildest dreams. Sure, I set him up for success like I did for all my kids, but the kids themselves decide what they do with their lives. My OG is SWK. He is funny, deep hearted, sweet and all boy. He has coined phrases that warm your heart and make you laugh till the cows come home. Here are a few classics: Fat Pants – one day a gorgeous ,stick thin, 4.0 older woman who spent every Friday night with him came to take him to get pizza and Putt-Putt in her sweatpants. Without looking up from the computer in the kitchen (she behind him), he said “What’s with the ‘Fat Pants’”. This was nearly a decade ago and she still hasn’t dawned a pair since. Welcome to MY World – at just the right moment when you are aboard the “StruggleBus'' My OG will welcome you into his world. Things are hard for My OG in our Neurotypical World. This phrase stops you in your tracks and reminds you that whatever is making you stress is nothing in comparison. This dose of companionship energizes you to get off the proverbial StruggleBus you are on. One day when a classmate’s mother was taking My OG to school to help me make an important meeting, her kids were acting up and she was using her best “Mom Voice”. My OG, politely reminded her to use her indoor voice and for her child to listen to his mother. My OG says what we are all thinking but doesn’t know we shouldn’t. Over the years he has learned to suppress playing Captain Obvious to the disappointment of comedians all around the globe. Luckily, I still have the pleasure of his unfiltered thoughts. So entertaining. Recently we visited a friend in the hospital who had neck surgery. He said, “I can’t decide if he looks more like Frankenstein or Chucky. He continued, “Since you don’t like Chucky, I’ll go with Frankenstein!” On another trip to a hospital bed of a friend, upon arrival said friend was sad and depleted having just been readmitted after successful open-heart surgery. My OG spent an hour in the presence of the friend I visited with the patience’s mom (and may have shared a swell container of smuggled margaritas – yes my S.I.L.’s evil recipe). When we left we took some selfies and the patient beamed. As we were escorted off the until by his mother, she thanked us. My OG said, “No problem, I am a beacon of hope!” That he is. I can go on and on but My OG is nothing like the stereotypes or ads. He is a blessing I could not have imagined. A blessing that only someone close to him can receive. If you aren’t close to a person with Autism, please do your best not to behave like a Super Villain. Getting close to him is hard unless you are a cute, young coed – in which case he is like every other young man!