Eighteen

You know, I turned fifty towards the end of last year and I didn’t “feel old” when it happened.

But for some reason, having an eighteen year old boy makes me feel kind of old.

Jackson turned eighteen over the past weekend and while that day may not mean as much to him as it might to a neurotypical child, it’s still pretty special to the rest of us.

The most notable thing that’s happened over the last year of Jackson’s life was related to his education.

Throughout most of his life, Jax has always attended schools made up primarily of other children on the autism spectrum.

The last couple of years, he had been at a school that seemed promising at first, but he kept disappearing between the cracks.

I take nothing away from parents of children with more severe forms of autism. I know those children are just as deserving of care and attention as one could ask for.

But the drawback for Jackson was the fact that since he was mostly so agreeable and didn’t bring a lot of attention to himself, that no one was there to push him and challenge him in ways we would want.

So, at the end of last year, the transition was made for Jackson to mainstream into a public school.

So far, it’s been a mostly positive experience.

While he is by most accounts, an eighteen year old who “should” be graduating high school with his peers, he’s been enrolled into an eighth grade class so that he can continue to not only get an education with his classmates, but go through the next four years of high school to graduate around the age of twenty-two.

But everything else with Jax is mostly status quo.

He still loves his toys and collecting as many as possible. He still gets into Legos, Funko Pops, and other assorted figurines.

He still loves movies and music.

He still loves to sing.

When he gets to spend time with his little brother, Sebastian, he’s typically very sweet and Sebastian still adores him.

And it’s so shocking to me that my “little meatball” isn’t so little anymore.

He’s a young man now, and I still have to wrap my head around that.

To Jax, we love you and hope it was a magical 18th birthday.

Here’s to another year of love, smiles, growth and evolution.