A week later, there was a fundraiser for the clinic. Mark and I were there to support, since we truly believe in their mission and what they do for Broden, including for our family. While we were there, the founder, who also has a child with autism, asked me what we do for respite, “What do you do when you want to go on a vacation with just you and Mark?” I told her that we ask my parents to fly to us and stay at the house. I think the last time we took a weekend away was a few years ago. The ability to have time away with just Mark and I is so rare, we don’t even discuss it anymore. We used to talk about going to Greece someday. Why talk about something or plan a vacation that most likely would never happen? What’s the point? I guess I’m a realist.

"Why can't we take that long weekend up in the mountains? Why can't Broden stay with a care taker so we could take that trip to Greece?"

After my dismal response to her question concerning respite for vacations, she said, “Why not? Why can’t that happen?” She started talking about finding a home where trusted and trained professionals could stay with our special needs children to provide respite. “Why can’t you take that long weekend up in the mountains?” She had me thinking, “Why can’t we work up to Broden being able to stay with a trained care taker so we could take that trip to Greece?”

I remember the look on her face. She had the look of, "How dare you give up?" She continued to talk about her vision and spoke with such ascertainment. I was in awe with her confidence in her plan and how a place like she described should and could be available to families such as ours. I reveled in the thought as

she talked about how our community would benefit from this project. My sense of realism started to slither over to hope and wonderment. I'm grateful for people like that in my life, people that remind me that it's good to dream and it's good to say it out loud. It's good to surround myself with people who feel that if something doesn't exist, then build it. Maybe someday, my New Year's resolution will be to go to Greece. Someday. •

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.