I remember it like it was yesterday...

I wish I had written more during that time... but I remember it like it was yesterday...

2009 was the year.

It began with Jack's school relocating to a new site - he had begun school in 2008, and a year later (with the original school site sold and a new school built), he was starting Grade 1 at a new school... yes, the students and teachers moved, but with new classes and completely new surroundings, he was essentially beginning again. Within a couple of weeks it was clear that he wasn't coping. I still vividly remember him lying on our bedroom floor one afternoon, in foetal position, shaking and crying... it had all become too much. By the end of March I was homeschooling him one day a week in the desperate attempt to keep some balance in his life.

Steve's dad sadly passed away in the June of 2009, but it was around April that we had really started to see the deterioration to his quality of life. Anxiety, uncertainty and grief moved like a wave through our little family...

It was in the May of this year that Steve began a job with a new company - the change was made as a step towards improving his job satisfaction and to further his career... what we didn't know at the time of his accepting this position was that the first 4 weeks in his new job was going to take him away from the family, with very little notice... he was able to make it home on weekends, but for a family that needs certainty and structure, this was a nightmare situation.

Throw a few other little things into the mix, like a mortgage refinance (to remain financially intact), and my taking on students for private tutoring to sustain our income levels (after I had to take time away from my casual teaching position due to the unpredictability of family life at the time), and of course the 'ASD assessment' road that we were travelling with Anna...

... life was spinning out of control... our regular routines had been turned on their head, uncertainty faced us at every turn, anxiety levels were 'through the roof', we were falling apart... more and more every day.