Working mom, dreams, and little kid basketball

Hi, how are you all doing? 

I thought I'd start with that since I've been out of touch for months. My writing dream took a hit this winter when I got a new job. Not just because I was too dang tired after work to be creative, but because the new job came with the discovery of a new dream, one that will actually pay me (after a bit of schooling). I kept at the writing (and editing) because I realized writing isn't just a dream, it's part of my soul to see the world and recreate it, retell it, sometimes just keep it for myself until I'm ready to share it. You can have more than one dream, maybe you'll move slower, and success will have to be measured in happiness and not accomplishments, but there is no finish line I'm thinking. 

In the meantime, I've been doing the mom gig. Meaning figuring out how to motivate a teenage boy with autism who is in the grips of puberty and sullenness that it is in his best interest to do his school work, not beat up his brother, and lend a kind word to his mother once in a while. Oh he drives me crazy. I asked him what he wanted to do when he grew up and he said, "Live with you." I told him I'd annoy him and he needed to live on his own. "No Mom. You only annoy me some of the time." The kid makes me laugh. He's also a Special Olympics Gold Medal athlete in swimming! He swam his butt off this spring and gets to go to State.

My youngest is on a basketball team and there is nothing cuter than watching a bunch of little kids running around playing basketball. He doesn't race off the court to give me a hug anymore, but he did give me a "What the heck?" look when a kid was defending him by way of holding him in place and then throwing him. The parents next to me were shouting, "Give it back to em!" while I was shouting "Good sportsmanship!" I'm thinking I don't have the sports mom role down. And maybe during practice while I was listening to Mercy Thompson be an awesome coyote on my audiobook and I noticed the coach teaching the kids to fight back when the defense plays street ball, I jumped off the bleachers and told him sportsmanship is primary, it's basketball creedo man! No one rallied behind the creedo bit. 

I'm still here folks. I'm working on Anna 4 and a novella from Eric's POV, both beyond the second draft stage. I'll try to hop around blogs and visit with you all. I miss you guys.