Dear Me from January 2023,

If you are reading this then that means you are at the point where the Disney College Program did not work out and you chose to come home. You did the right thing. You went with your gut. You did what you felt was right for you. But remember, this state of rock bottom is only temporary.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am you in June 2025. And if you want some proof, here is something that a lot of people do not know about us, and it is the amount of stuffed animals in our room. Ty Bear the bear, cool girl the bear, Raspberry the monkey, the Hedwig owl that is wearing a Hogwarts outfit, the second owl that we got at the zoo gift shop, and the pink unicorn that was given to us as a gift by our friends that are twins after a dance recital. Those are just all of the stuffed animals we sleep with. We have more at the front of our bed. Knowing myself, that will be enough for you to be convinced that I am who I say I am.

I am writing this to let you know that everything will be okay. Everything will work out the way it should. You will not feel this down for much longer. The only way we go from here is up. You got this. This whole Disney fiasco is what leads to all of the incredible and amazing things that will happen this year. Well, mostly incredible and amazing. This will be the year that you will have a lot of high ups, and some pretty low downs. But do not worry. You are currently going through one of the two downs that take place this year so you just have one more to deal with.

To start, I want to remind you that this letter is something I am writing after all. That should be a hint for what is to come, and it is very exciting, because we love to write after all. I do not want to go into detail on this and I will explain why later.

You do find something to do for the next couple of months before the summer. It is an environment you are so used to where everyone loves, supports, and understands you.

But there is one thing I want to warn you about that happens at the end of the summer. It will be tragic. It will be sad. It will be something that should not have happened in the first place. It will have a huge impact on you, your parents, your brother, and the rest of your family. But you have the support of your entire family, your friends, and remember that you can talk to your therapist about literally anything. (Yes. It is the same therapist that we were seeing at the beginning of 2023).

But you know what? You will still have a great summer. We will be in charge of the same kid we were in charge of last summer and her independence has gotten significantly better! She looks up to us and so do the rest of the kids at camp.

The reason why I am not going into full detail about all of the events I have previously described is because I know me. If I know about something bad that will happen in the future, I will lose my motivation. I will be anxious and scared, and I will not want to keep going, which we know that we have dealt with once already in 2021 where Covid destroyed any motivation we normally have. I do not want you to let the bad stop you from achieving what you will achieve this year and the next two and a half years. Trust me when I say by the time you get to June 2025, you will be the proudest you have ever been in your life.

Remember all that you have been able to accomplish at this point. You will continue to accomplish so much more. One other thing: you can do anything, even with autism. It is just part of who we are. We have our struggles, yes, but we have our strengths too that make us superhuman.

Remember that you got this. And keep asking yourself three things you can see, three things you can hear, three things you can smell, three things you can taste, and three things you can touch. That continues to be super helpful.

I think it is safe for me to close this out by telling you our two mantras that we have by June 2025:
Everything happens for a reason.
You can handle any challenge that comes your way.