Two years in a row I put up the boys’ kindergarten Christmas trees they painted in class. I got a fake one at an estate sale. A few salt dough ornaments were still attached. I like to think their family’s memories live on just in a different home.

Christmas just isn’t the same without littles at home. Last two years we didn’t even bother with a tree. Oldest can’t get home until January and youngest gets here a few days before. Got a fake tree at an estate sale so we have one. But I loved tree cutting with them as kids. Such adventure!

I just wish it was at a time when science and research and education were valued. But I do know that knowledge is power. And that’s why some are afraid of it. Afraid of us. Because we won’t let this go. We won’t move on to the next trendy thing. This is our lived experience. We aren’t going away!

But also frustration because not everyone cares to learn about neurodivergence. They just complain that people are being diagnosed and “back in my day…” yeah those folks were institutionalized, abused, incarcerated, or they masked until they lost themselves. I’m starting to find my true self.

I’m not formally Dx’d, Drs. were dismissive when I tried. I started looking into how to help my students, and found so many things that describe my experience and I started looking at family members. 💡😳 I started seeing all of us in a different light. Especially my mom. It’s bringing forgiveness

I know many who say this are just being dismissive a-holes. But the research I’ve read lately shows that it absolutely runs in families, so some do see it that way. If everyone they know has some/many traits but X is an alcoholic, Y is just lazy, Z is so dramatic, etc there’s an excuse for all.

🤣

If only that elf would get off the shelf and make himself useful for a change. We are hosting a party on the 20th and have some decorations up. I was hoping hubs would put the lights up but we got stuck behind a bad accident on the way home from Reno. But I am also writing again. So 🎉👩‍💻

They are carnivorous. I once saw one eat the head off a damselfly male while it was mating. That’s not an image you forget.

Hmmm. I have a cousin there. Hope she and her horses are okay.

Thanks. Hubs has an earthquake tracker app but didn’t respond. Although if it was around sunrise this morning I would have thought that the alert was triggered by the dozen deer running below my bedroom window.

I got one too. But no location details. I’m in El Dorado County.