I must confess contentment isn't my natural asset. One of my favorite quotes is "if there is a way to do it better, find it". That philosophy doesn't blend well with ... just accepting.

Having autism in the family does a number of things: The yard has weeds, the garden gets mowed, those nicely painted walls? forget it, moving for work or just for a different house.. not likely. Recently though, something happened.

It was mid-morning on Sunday and I sat down in a chair in my bedroom. Tired, somewhat annoyed that I couldn't mark off some projects that really needed to be done. Sitting there in not the best mood, I then looked outside and noticed the flowers, a beautiful blue sky, the nice lines of a recently done shingle job, swept sidewalk, front yard mowed, my daughter playing the piano downstairs and silence from my son. SILENCE? From my son? While the piano was being played? That is highly unusual. Usually at the sound of the first bars there is quite the commotion and yelling for the piano to quit.

But on this Sunday, for whatever reason, quiet acceptance. I sat listening to the piano, quiet from my son, birds and looked out at sunshine, blue sky, swept walk and also for the moment was content.