by Leisa A. Hammett | Aug 2, 2012 | Autism/Disability, Motherhood, Nature, Travel
Diagnosis: End-of-Summer Malaise. Late last week I returned from the most relaxing vacay I've had in four years. And then I remained in that mode via a "staycay" for the next nearly four days. Ahhhh. (I'll be starting a show-and-tell series from all...
by Leisa A. Hammett | Jul 26, 2012 | Autism/Disability, Divorce, Grief & Loss, Midlife and Beyond, Motherhood, Spirituality
It was an eclectic bunch from around Middle Tennessee who clustered at the mammoth log-cabin-style retreat home of a friend's father. Those gathering on a sun-blessed November Thursday shared a common sense of spirituality and a potluck of earthy-homemade...
by Leisa A. Hammett | Jul 17, 2012 | Art, Autism/Disability, Grief & Loss, Midlife and Beyond, Motherhood, Spirituality
Do you know how important your voice is to the world? Every person has a story. Really. June 1, I was priviledged to join forces with Lacey Lyons, Belmont University adjunct English professor and Courtney Taylor Evans, of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center to...
by Leisa A. Hammett | Jul 6, 2012 | Art, Autism/Disability, Grief & Loss, Midlife and Beyond, Motherhood, Spirituality, Travel
Funny….Time, when in the midst of it, seems an eternity. Long gone, it is a fleeting memory. Summers past. Precious days. Years-on at a camp inclusion. Then: aged out. Now, 18. We have little such possibility. At the start of our journey, two...
by Leisa A. Hammett | Jun 21, 2012 | Autism/Disability, Grief & Loss, Midlife and Beyond, Motherhood
As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in the dentist’s office waiting room. Grace, my teen daughter with autism, has been called back. I’m listening to the mostly unintelligible moans turned screams of an elementary school-aged boy, who, at the glance I stole when he...
by Leisa A. Hammett | Jun 19, 2012 | Art, Midlife and Beyond, Motherhood, Nature, Spirituality
She's a beautiful woman. She's amazing. She's the kind of mother-superwoman, whom, in our hearts, many of us would aspire to become. She's the president of the PTSA, she's a diplomat, she speaks before the board, serves on every committee,...
