Susan and Dave scrimped and saved.  They had always dreamed of having a house.  They purchased Home Maintenance for Dummies, Idiots Repair Guide 101, and the Doofus Basics of Home Repair.  They read everything they could about homes, and were excited when it was time to buy one. 

A new subdivision was being built and they purchased one of the last homes in the neighborhood.  Located in a quiet nook on a cul-de-sac, they immediately fell in love with the house.  With a wide front porch, craftsman style, they imagined themselves spending many sunny days sipping iced tea on the porch.  Moving day came and went and they were suddenly settled inside their new home.

A little scared, but mostly excited they quickly settled into their new home.  Initially they noticed a few cracks here and there as the house started to settle, but were reassured by friends that they were normal settling cracks.  "All homes have settling cracks," their friends assured them.  A little unnerved they took out the Home Maintenance for Dummies book just in case, and repaired the cracks according to the instructions. 

Some of the cracks got bigger, and then sometimes a door would stick in what seemed like a random event.  Home Maintenance for Dummies didn't have the answers they needed so they perused the Idiots Repair Guide to see if it offered a different solution.  They followed it's suggestions to a T on repairing cracks, and then tried to unstick the door.  Not really sure why, but the instructions didn't seem to work for their particular door.  It was a small irritation, but nothing they couldn't compensate for, so they just left it alone.

A couple of summers came and went with many hot days spent sipping iced tea on their front porch, just like they imagined.  The house would still creak and groan, but they became adjusted to the quirks of the house and didn't think about it too much. 

One year they noticed that the AC was running in the winter and the heat in the summer.  Pulling out Doofus Basics of Home Repair, they tried to figure out what in the world to do.  They had never heard of anyone having a problem like that. In fact, they convinced themselves it must only be their home because the book didn't even have that problem addressed.  They realized the books were not very helpful for their particular house.  Maybe they are good for everyone else's house, but their house was most definitely different.

In addition to the new heating system development, they noticed that the floor would creak horribly whenever they had company.  So much so, they stopped having friends over for dinner.  They creaking would come and go and was completely unpredictable it seemed.  They were so embarrassed.  They were convinced that their friends thought they were horrible homeowners. No one else's new homes creaked and groaned like that.

They spent every weekend working on the house. It seemed that as they fixed one problem, another one would just pop up.  As their friends were spending their weekends carefree they poured their energy into the house trying to make it like everyone else's.  Why were these problems happening?  They just didn't know how to make it right.

They talked with their neighbors who were not having these problems with their homes and agreed that they needed to have a contractor come in. Contractor #1 told them they had a serious problem and that they needed to replace their subflooring and caulk the cracks.  Contractor #2 told them the house was just built wrong and would always have issues.  Contractor #3 told them the house was doomed and to just move away. 

In love with the house, they weren't ready to give up just yet.  Confused by all of the conflicting information, they weren't sure what to do.  None of the contractors could agree on what to do about the house.   They realized that the owner's manuals they had gotten weren't working, but were totally overwhelmed.  They had saved for years in order to purchase their dream house and it was not at all what they planned.  Exhausted of weekend after weekend repair, tired of problems with the house, and overwhelmed with trying to fix the unknown problems, they sat and cried. 

Not sure where to turn, they decided to do some research. They hopped online and googled "large cracks that won't seem to go away."  Much to their surprise they got several hits and information about this exact issue.  They googled "AC coming on randomly in the winter, and heat coming on in the summer."  They got hits.  The articles went on to explain that sometimes during the curing of the foundation, things could happen differently.  No one was really sure why it happened, but sometimes the foundation just cured a little bit differently.  This curing change was not really an issue, but as the house was built and settled over time, the issues from the cure would become more noticeable.    The good news that while they couldn't ever change the foundation to the home without considerable expense, there were a lot of things that they could do to minimize the effects and make the house more livable. 

Relieved at understanding what the real problem was, Susan and Dave read every book they could find.  They read books that were geared for these unusual type of situations. Much to their surprise they found many solutions to deal with the houses issues.  With these books in hand, they spent every evening and weekend working on the house.  Slowly, ever so slowly, it seemed like they were making headway on the house.  They figured out if slowly filled the cracks in, not too much at one time, that the cracks seemed to stay fixed.  They found that if they walked just slightly off to one side on the floor, it wouldn't creak and moan so badly.  After much trial and error, they slowly learned how to deal with the particular quirks of their home.  There were many days they felt that they should just give up and move into a new house, but they loved their neighborhood and their special house.

After several years of tinkering with the house, making adjustments very slowly, they felt confident enough to have friends over again.  Worried about the potential for the house to creak, they carefully prepared the home and talked with their friends about how to work with the house to avoid these problems.  The party went well and Susan and Dave were ecstatic.  Their hard work had paid off.

Susan and Dave spent many years in that lovely little house, sipping iced tea and eating homemade cookies on the front porch.  Every so often the house creaked or groaned, or a small crack would start to reappear, but Susan and Dave knew just what to do. 

Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) such as autism, PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified), and Asperger's affect many children and adults.  Today is that last day of Autism Awareness month, and I hope that this story illustrates some of the feelings that parents can experience when raising a child with an ASD.  It is a complicated situation for parents and children alike that stirs a complex mix of feelings on a daily basis. 

For a fantastic article read Don't Mourn for Us by Jim Sinclair.