Why I Picked My Title

Anyone who has seen the movie "Remains of the Day" probably remembers the line that Emma Thompson says near the end of the movie (which I cannot quote word for word) that some people think that evening is the best time of day. There is all sorts of symbolism that goes into that statement. I believe she is saying that once you have lived out your tumultuous life, the evening, or the remains, is the most pleasant and relaxing part of life to live. I picked the title of my blog "Late Afternoon Soon to be Evening" because I am not quite to the remains of my life, but I am definitely beyond noon and certainly into late afternoon.

To expand on this introduction, I have four children spanning in age from ten to seventeen. I have been married for almost 20 years. We have a rather unique family and have had a very unique journey. You see, my third child was born with an arachnoid cyst in his right temporal lobe, along with hydrocephalus. However it took us four years to receive a complete diagnosis. My youngest son also was afflicted by unfair genetics and has Eosinophilic Esophagitis. These conditions have exposed our family to more of the medical profession than I ever thought I could handle.

As fate would have it, I earned my Masters in School Social Work and worked in that profession for seven years before having children. My job was to evaluate children as part of a team to determine if they qualified for special education services. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would ever be the recipient of such services. However, my little boy began his illustrious education in the 0-3 program, moved to the Early Childhood Program and then into Special Education. Now as a sixth grader, he is phasing out of special education and being integrated back into regular education, quite successfully. Hopefully, our experiences will help someone else along the way.

My youngest son was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE) when he was in the first grade. After three older children going through elementary school, I was pretty sure that all of his stomach aches and eating problems were related to anxiety. However, after he had an anaphylactic reaction to tree nuts, the complaints increased. To make a long story short, he had a biopsy and was diagnosed as having EE in 2005. He is presently in a medical study in which he has to have an infusion of medication once a month and biopsies every 8 months.

You may be curious about my oldest two children. They obviously experienced the fallout from all the doctors visits and hospitalizations from my two youngest children. However, they both have found coping strategies and are very creative. My daughter is a gymnast and a very good photographer. My son loves music and plays at least four different instruments. They are both very sensitive to kids with any kind of developmental disability or illness. In a nutshell, I am very proud of both of them.

As I stated earlier, hopefully someone will benefit from some of the experiences I have had to stumble through.