Don’t underestimate the reach of the Internet, ever. Barbie Googles, it seems, and she is not happy! With me!!

And now, of course, we’re all midlife women, well past the gallivanting stage. So we’re still safe–right? Not so fast.

This week, my friend’s grandson received a formal, medical diagnosis of autism. This news brought a flood of memories of me as a confused, terrified and angry mother of another three-year old boy with autism.

Last night, for the first time in almost 20 years, I finally felt like I owned my life. It was a simple night. Made some angel hair pasta with diced tomatoes, garlic, onion, garlic bread….And suddenly, I realized that this is truly the beginning of my life. MY life. I could do whatever I wanted – which turned out to be doing nothing at all, really.

I don’t want to write about her–but I can’t not, because my mind won’t go anywhere else. Since word of her skiing accident first came in, I can’t not–think about her, that is, in one …

I have a bone to pick with you. You are a million tiny dark clouds that, en masse, have been growing inside of me, haunting me. Terrorizing me, really. You are like pigeons who hang around garbage dumpsters. . .

I hesitate to explain this part because it makes Twitter—and me—sound even more shallow and superficial than we already are. On Twitter you express yourself in 140 characters. That’s it. Your 140 characters enter the vast Twitter-verse where words fly by in a mad jumble—as if someone mixed together fleeting thoughts from thousands of brains and released them in one huge stream of consciousness all at once.

I have another one of those social thingies to go to tonight. I was all hot-to-trot when I first heard about it, drinks at an Irish pub downtown, 6-8pm. I planned the ‘when shall I …

At that point, I turned to international adoption. I learned that not every country will allow single parents to adopt, which eliminated several countries from consideration right off the bat.

…of work well done tomorrow.
That’s me, brushing my teeth and planning–with great energy and zest and, yes, enthusiasm (is this overkill?) all that I am going to accomplish the next day. Except I don’t. Because, …