Welcome to MAP!

Best of Pals

I am over joyed to be starting MAP and sharing my experiences, learnings, trials and tribulations with each of you.  

MAP became an idea for me a little over a year ago in 2015.   I am a stay at home mom with my daughter, Maci, who was diagnosed with Autism in 2007.  Finding out Maci had ASD was a shock!  I had no idea how much her diagnosis would change my life.  Every dream and idea I had about raising a little girl, went out the window all at once.  

In one of my support group meetings, the woman talking was an education therapist and she told us parents, "Mourn the child you thought and pictured in your mind you would have, be sad and upset and then move on".  It is so true.  Once I let go of this image and idea of having a "typical or normal" child, I was free to love and accept Maci for who she is and all her special gifts she has to offer.  

Before Maci was diagnosed with ASD and I was in the early stages of being a stay at home mom.  It was very new and different to be at home with a little baby.  I had worked my entire adult life and had a good career in commercial real estate.  I thought after a few years I would go back to work.  I was not 100% sure what I wanted to do, I decided to reach out to   a life coach a friend recommended to help me determine some ideas.

As the months passed, Maci was having more challenges and problems.  My ideas of starting a career quickly changed to finding out what was happening to our little baby.  I continued my journey with Maci over the next 9 years.  I managed everything in her life to help get solutions, answers and the best we could find for her.  It has been a long journey and continues to be each day.

Over the last year, my life coach, Lana, and I were still discussing what I thought I wanted to do.  I never forgot about my ideas and dreams of starting a business of my own.  Newly inspired to create something I could hopefully pass on to Maci when she gets older.  I guess you could say, Lana and I had an "Ah Ha" moment together.  Why not create a website like Yelp, Pinterest and Goop (Gwenyth Paltrow's site highlighting her experiences) but for information relating to ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).  It could guide people to create their own map on how to manage their journey with ASD.

My hope and wish is MAP (maciandpebble.com) will be a commonly used website not only to find resources and information but also to read comments, reviews, share your experiences and resources that have been helpful.  It is fully interactive and flexible to the needs of anyone using the website.

My blog and posts will open our life to you.  Sharing Maci and Pebble's stories and journey with each of you.  We are excited and eager for you to experience MAP!

Here's to getting started!