Charlotte

Hi. I’m Charlotte. Welcome to my blog.Lil Charlotte 1

I am a forty-something wife and mother of two.

I have lived a happy life. And I have lived a conventional life.

Lately though, the non-conventional side of me has wanted the chance to express herself.

So I started this blog. It’s about being what I am…

a woman, a mother, and a questioner.

Simple stuff really but somehow, somedays, it feels complicated.

This is my attempt to sort it all out.

Thanks for visiting.

19 Responses

  1. Hi Charlotte!
    So here I am, as promised with my list of questions, which you may or may not feel like answering! So what is Teddy up to now? What, if any, issues does he face now? What was it like when he went through puberty? When you received his diagnosis, what information if any, did you get? Were there “miracle” treatments? Did you read anything that was particularly helpful? Who did you talk to? Where did you get support and if you didn’t, how did you handle that?
    I noticed you began this blog with flying, did that help you? Was that something that came about because of the diagnosis? (I found jewelry design and became a bench jeweler as well as designer as a direct result of Emma’s diagnosis. It was a way to just be, in my studio, the one place and time I was able to be completely tune everything out and be completely in the moment creating something I could feel and see. I call it my safe haven, even though I now spend at least half my time there writing.)
    Was there pressure to do things with Teddy a particular way? Were you tempted to do things to help him that you later regretted? Did you wonder, question, worry about his future? When you did, what helped you pull back into the present?
    What about friends and family? Did you have help? Did they pressure you to do things that you might not have?
    Okay, that’s a few of my questions. I totally understand if you don’t want to answer them. I also understand if you prefer not to answer them out of concern for Teddy’s privacy. By the way, you have my email address if you’d prefer emailing – ariane@arianezurcher.com
    But as I said, I won’t take whatever your response is personally. We don’t know each other and these things are very personal. I certainly understand any reluctance in replying much less broadcasting a response over the internet.

    Reply

    • Hi!

      I am absolutely happy to answer every single question you have asked. In fact I think I will create a post around the questions and then answer each one in order. I have changed all names as a respect to everyone’s privacy since it isn’t just me I write about, but otherwise, and maybe there is something wrong with me for feeling this way, but I don’t mind sharing, they are just stories. I think we get caught up in the ‘story of me’ like it is who we really are, but it isn’t. Who we really are is the energy that is within us, not the stuff that happens to us.

      So, I will begin to work on the post and hopefully within a day or two have it ready. And oh my, you opened your comment with a doozy, the question about what Ted is up to now. I was just about to start writing about that. It has just taken me some time to get ready to do so. Just yesterday, we reached the threshold of a new milestone, a new goal to work toward. Ah, life, there is never a dull moment.

      Well I better get, I got some answering to do! :-)

      Enjoy your Saturday.

      Reply

    • One of the only photos of me that I like. Can be kinda self-critical! :-) Glad we have connected as well. And we have before, briefly, at your site. I was one who mentioned the Monty Python killer bunny. Really, you gotta see Holy Grail!

      Reply

  5. Hi Charlotte

    Thanks for visiting my blog

    I am also forty something, mum of two, new to blogging & I teach teenagers with autism & Aspergers

    I would love to fly, but I am dyslexic and it takes me ages to learn to do things properly (like ride a bike or drive) I can’t dance for peanuts, I always lose track of the steps. I would have had to have learned as a small child… Then it would be second nature to me. If I tried now I would probably kill myself & my instructor. (My driving instructor nearly fired me!!)

    Maybe I’ll ask for a balloon trip for a present one birthday!!

    I think I will come back to visit you often xx

    Reply

    • Hi Barbara!

      So glad to meet you. Thanks for stopping by, for leaving a message and for teaching our kids with autism.

      Tell you what, you can fly with me as a passenger and I’ll give you a try at the controls! I can help with dancing also… rhumba, swing, hustle, cha cha, waltz, oh they are all wonderful and I learned early, when you mess up just laugh… it makes up for everything! The idea is to have fun!

      I will look forward to hearing how your new adventures go. Isn’t being in our 40′s fabulous!

      Charlotte

      Reply

      • Lol…. Me at the controls! The first time i got on a motorbike I drove it straight into the fence! As long as we are high enough up to be able to recover anything I do, then ok!

        I do live in England though, so you are safe from me turning up on your doorstep in the next day or so :)

      • I made the offer feeling pretty safe about 1. the chances of hitting anything but clouds at 5,000 feet, 2. the ocean separating us! However, should we ever find ourselves in the same country I would happily take you flying and let you have the controls at 5,000 feet. Remember too, in an airplane there are 2 sets of controls so the chance of you creating a situation I cannot almost immediately fix are slim! :-)

    • Thank you Linda. That rolls of the fingers better than calling you “Sheep”! I too am glad we’ve met. The comment you left on my Dexedrine post really struck a chord with me. You instinctively hit the nail on the head and when someone does that, when they understand, it’s like I want to run up to them and thank them in this, I don’t know, I can’t thank you enough kind of way. People who get it, well, they can change someone’s world, just like you said you did for that young man, and that, well, that is magic! :-)

      Reply

      • I think that in general, we (meaning society as a whole) like to have straight answers about everything. And even when it comes to learning and development we have strict, rigid guidelines as to what to do and not to do – and what to have and not to have. I honestly believe that the human mind is as dynamic as the living cell (of course that has to make sense, right?). Therefore, we need to drop the barriers and cultivate (let grow) as much as we can. I was speaking to the school’s principal this afternoon as I was waiting for a prescription for Genny, and I mentioned your son and our exchange. I did that to reiterate how important it is to accept and work with the children that we are lucky to have. It came on the topic because her son has some other kind of “out of the protocol” dealing with his schooling. She said she would have hoped for her son to have a better experience with his schooling – I could tell she is secretly hurting and that it’s been like that since he was a tiny boy. She is an amazing woman and during the two years that I was teaching, she would open the door to any of my undertakings with the kids. Anyway, in the end, it doesn’t matter how we all get there – as long as we are happy. I would so want for everyone to “get it” so that life could be so much more rewarding. And if I do make a difference for one child, then that means the world to me. My daughter reminds me of what I do for her on a near daily basis and that warms my heart.Thank you for your kind words. You are full of love. Just like me. Maybe our special children did that to us. :)

  9. Hi Thanks for liking one of my posts in my blog..You have an interesting blog and I will be following your articles since somehow we shared one thing in common – being a Mom.

    Reply

Talk to me...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s