SHELLY HUHTANEN

The D-Bomb

With all the filth flying out of my mouth, I have braced myself for Broden to one day drop one of those words during therapy. I knew it was only a matter of time. He's a smart kid and he's fully aware of what is going on around him.

Each deployment was different, yet there were a few things that seemed to be the same. Of course, we missed not being all together as a family, something usually broke, or we experienced being near a natural disaster for some reason. Mark is currently on a work trip and Hurricane Dorian has decided to travel north up to visit us. I should have known. One thing is certain and I'm sure it can be graphed if data were taken, I cuss more when Mark is gone. It's something I'm not proud of, but the jury is out. The jury being my oldest son, Hayden. I have a tendency to have more inappropriate language when I'm managing the house alone. After Hayden agreed that I do cuss more when his Dad is gone, he did tell me I was still a lot fun. I guess that makes me feel a little bit better.

I SWEAR: It's something I'm not proud of, but I have a tendency to use more inappropriate language when I'm managing the house alone.

With all the filth flying out of my mouth, I have braced myself for Broden to one day drop one of those words during therapy. I knew it was only a matter of time. He's a smart kid and he's fully aware of what is going on around him. A few years ago, a tutor asked him what the person was drinking in a picture and he said, "beer". Clearly, he is my husband's child. Yes, it was probably beer. I couldn't count how many times Broden has broken into song to realize that he had heard a song I was playing in the car that morning. Eminem has quite a few catchy tunes if I do say so myself, and "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey is a gem. Broden has started singing this song in church and I've heard it during dinner too. He's got great taste, but bad language? Not until recently, but not like you would think to hear it.

Last month, my parents were visiting and my Mom came with me to pick Broden up from ABA therapy. He had a full cup of juice on ice. When he picked the cup up, the lid came off and the entire cup of cold juice fell in his lap. My Mom was in the front seat and was trying to reach back to help him. I was busy driving the car so all I could do was look back in the rear view mirror in horror. "Broden, just hang in there honey. We are getting home as fast as we can." Broden started to squirm and yell out, "Lightning McQueen!" as loud as he could. He grit his teeth and then tried to lift his bottom off the chair, but his seatbelt would not let him budge. With beady eyes he belted out, "Dinosaur! Dinosaur!"

I knew he was miserable because the more he squirmed, you could imagine the ice cubes starting to melt and slide between his legs. He was stuck in this cold sticky liquid until we got home and there wasn't a thing he could do but cuss, "Lightning McQueen!! Dinosaur Dinosaur!" My Mom and I knew what those words meant and I'm sure "dinosaur" was the worst cuss word out of them all. Dinosaur had to be the F bomb. I mouthed the word while I was driving. What a great word to yell if you're frustrated.

Driving on post was the worst. I was driving 35-37 miles an hour looking frantically to see if an MP was around and then I swung into our neighborhood pushing the limit on the speed to get to the driveway. Broden slipped out of the seat with soaked pants and waddled into the house. My Mom got him bathed while I dismantled the backseat and scrubbed it down. The windows were rolled down that night in the garage to make sure things were aired out before we headed to ABA again the next morning.

A few weeks later heading to pick up the boys, a car slammed on his brakes in front of me to turn right without using his turn signal. I screamed out, "Lighting McQueen!" I have to admit, it felt pretty good. I'm saving the D-word for a special occasion. • 

PUZZLES & CAMO Shelly Huhtanen is an Army wife stationed at Fort Benning, GA who has a child with autism. She enjoys sharing her experiences of day-to-day life caring for her son with autism while serving as an Army spouse. She authored "Giving a Voice to the Silent Many" that encompasses many stories of raising a child with autism in the military. Shelly is passionate about autism advocacy for our military and works to bring awareness to our local legislators and command about providing better support for our military autism community, such as better health care and education.