I’m a hockey mom and I kind of hate it

“Nothing says Canadian summer like shelling out three hundred bucks for hockey camp. It’s August, and I’m headed for a stinking, sweaty change room—to lace up ice skates. Again. When I think of my life these days, I see a size six hockey skate and a nine-year-old foot, propped between my knees, laces waiting.”

 

Angie Abdou – Today’s Parent – June 2017

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The Most Autism-Friendly Town in Canada

“Over six years, Channel-Port aux Basques has gone from having zero local resources to becoming the first autism-friendly town in Canada. In the summer of 2017, mayor Todd Strickland made it official with a pen flourish at a declaration signing at the town hall. It all began with two local women who wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Valerie Howes – Today’s Parent – April 2018

My only child died, but I’ll always be a mother

“My first Mother’s Day without my daughter fell seven months after her death. India, my only child, died at 16, after a six-year battle with a devastating neurodegenerative disease so rare, we were only given a name for it six months before it took her life. My husband, Mark, and I were driving through the Chicago area that first Mother’s Day. We were on a pilgrimage of sorts, dedicated to our daughter. Inside my purse, in a red Chinese embroidered bag, were 16 handmade colourful glass beads, each containing a pinch of India’s cremated remains.”

Lesley Buxton – Today’s Parent – May 2018

Born on Opioids

“Opioid withdrawal is one of the most painful things a person can endure. Your back is sore. Your teeth throb. Your bones ache. Even your skin hurts. A gnawing hunger eats at your raw stomach, and you’ve never felt thirstier. Give in to the urge to eat or drink, however, and you’ll throw up. Again. The diarrhea, already so bad you’re lying on the bathroom floor between bouts, gets even worse. And then there’s your mood. It boomerangs from boiling rage to a desperate low. You wonder if you’re dying. Then you wish you would, just to stop the pain. Imagine, then, how it feels for a baby.”

Jessica Leeder – Today’s Parent – September 2017