My 12 year old son struggles, for some reason, with understanding the difference between reality and cartoons. Around age 9, he became obsessed with making a “Wynn Show” where he would be the star of his own cartoon. He would regularly ask me to film him “wrestling lions” or “chasing the bad guys” but would then be terribly disappointed when the footage showed him in real life and not as the cartoon hero he imagined.

This weekend, we had yet another conversation regarding cartoons. He has given up on making his own “Wynn One” or “Wynn Two”, but still has many unanswered questions. As we walked outside, hand-in-hand, he started out with, “Mom, I am real or a cartoon?”

“You’re real.”, I replied with confidence.

“So, am I based on a true story, then?” he queried.

His question took me by surprise. I didn’t know what he meant and certainly didn’t know how to answer. Instinctively, I told him that he was definitely based on a true story, and was relieved when my answer seemed to satisfy him.

Later, I pondered his question again. Was his life based on a true story? Is this bright-eyed boy, on the verge of his teens, the true story that I envisioned when he was merely a wish in my heart? Honestly, I’d have to say no. He’s real, that is for sure, but his story is not based on anything I could have ever imagined.

Never did I think I would spend my son’s toddler years in waiting rooms surrounded by other children with sad stories and their frail and fragile parents. It didn’t cross my mind that my son would ever watch the big yellow bus go by from the window of his special needs van. I thought I would cheer from the sidelines one day, but not through a two-way mirror with a psychologist jotting in a notebook as my son lined up cars in the room full of toys. And who knew that my biggest fight would have nothing to do with finishing homework, or pulling up those B’s, but everything to do with IEPs, in-home support and “use your words”?.........

No, I wouldn’t have planned a life like this for my son....ever. But in reality, no parent gets to plan. Every mom gets disappointed and heart-broken at some point, in some manner. The way I see it, we’re all just along for the ride. It’s just that some rides have more twists and turns then others......And I’ve always been a sucker for a roller coaster, anyway. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!