Welcome to our journey of living and loving with Autism.

This is a book for everyone—a book you asked for. When I first started sharing our journey on social media, I realised just how much our story resonated with my tribe. But it wasn’t just people who had autism in their family, it was also the broader community that wanted to learn, and that were inspired by Thomas and how he moved through the world. These stories may make you cry, then make you laugh. While I trust they will educate and inform, most of all I hope they make you feel less alone. I hope they make you feel a part of something bigger than what is happening within your own four walls. And in knowing this I hope you feel you have someone to celebrate your wins with, someone to commiserate your struggles with, someone to keep it real with, and someone to laugh about the ridiculous with.

After gaining some insight in day-to-day life with autism, a friend said to me, ‘Julie, I don’t know how you do it.’ Well, my immediate response was, ‘How don’t I do it?’ and ‘How don’t we do it?’ We have a choice in how we do it, and sometimes we will forget that—sometimes we will do it madly and badly and sadly, and then we will find gladly … and that is true for just doing life itself, whatever your story.

Prepare to be entertained, empowered and energised by this collection of stories and reflections.

Julie Cross