Cathy and Jeff Romanczuk
SUBJECT: Latest from the autistic family 8/1/98
Our backyard cottonwood is dying. It�s about 40 years old and 50 feet tall, I guess, 4 feet in diameter at the base, and half dead already. One of the tree service people the landlady sent said it probably caught some disease. I realize trees don�t live forever, but it�s sad to see it go. And dangerous. Every time Albuquerque gets breezy, the thing drops a limb or three. One went through the side of Kate�s boat/sandbox. Anyway, its days are numbered. It�ll be a stump by the end of August.
On the other hand, the cool thing about being a renter is it isn�t our problem. We have only to watch it happen. Having just spent $2,000 to improve the drainage field of the Tennessee house, Cathy and I are fit to revel in the glories of being a renter. Of course, if ol� cottonwood falls on the house before they cut it down, I think we�ll care.
Kate started her school year already, since she�s in the extended year program (second grade) at Mark Twain Elementary. Luke will be on the traditional school year schedule, starting at Madison Middle School the third week of August. I�m done with school, probably not forever, but it�s pleasant to think so. Considering that it took me 15 years to get the masters, I probably won�t live long enough to get any other degree. I am planning to take the Project Management Professional certification exam the end of September, though. So I�ve been studying for that since I finished the thesis.
I�m also presenting the thesis at New Mexico�s annual autism conference the end of October. I want to do a follow-up study, tracking autism etiologies in the popular press (newspapers, television, People Magazine, etc.) rather than the scientific journals, but I�ll probably wait until after the holidays. I don�t feel like I need a rest, necessarily, but that it would be wise to take one.
The Autistic Family attended our first national autism conference, July 7 to 11 in Reno (we aren�t as mobbed up as Las Vegas), Nevada. Cathy hit mostly the education and family speakers and I favored the research and transition planning ones. With Luke starting middle school, we�re starting to think next step. We�re trying to figure what useful purpose Luke�s life will serve so we can aim in this direction. Of course, Cathy and I still haven�t figured out what we want to be when we grow up, so this hinders the process for Luke.
Sincerely,
Jeff
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