PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Hope for a Better Tomorrow
By Janele HOERNER
One of the best gifts that I have ever received was a day that the majority of parents
in our world would call a typical day. A day of calm play, happy though exuberant
childhood voices, and a soft pitter patter of cascading footsteps throughout the home,
although for our household, this quiet day was more of a quizzical eerie silence that
left us wondering what was going on in our child’s four-year-old mind.
T
his day lasted but a few short hours, yet will
linger in my heart forever in the hope of a
better tomorrow, and to be determined in
our lives: a day when my son’s sensitivities
may be calmed and we may experience
peace. This day is one that brings tears to
my eyes, a difficult scenario to truly depict
into expressed words and although it has only oc-
curred yesterday—feels like it has happened years
ago when compared to today’s experiences.
22 | Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 68
Now, before I explain what happened in fact before
our last sleep, as my son calls them, let me explain
what has happened today. Today I was awoken to my
son running out of his room slamming his body into
the walls much like a bouncing ball unleashed in a
long hallway. As he missed the turns because of the
force that he was running, he only exuded from his
mouth a deep and low pitched growl, as he made his
way into my room to awaken me and his baby sister—
almost an hour before the sun opened its eyes. As I