We have the typical boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl live happily ever after story; but that's where the typical ends. Before we fell in love my husband and I had been married to other partners before and had 2 kids each. Falling in love was the easy part, blending 4 teenagers, one with profound autism, was the hard part. It was the first challenge of many, however we did blend the families and in doing so became better people.
My husband had absolutely no experience with special needs children, let alone a 14 year old non-verbal, self injurious teenager when we met, but he quickly fell for him too. My husband, Quinn, likes to say, "I know what I signed up for and your sons were here before I was." Quinn has set the bar high for all adults becoming a step-parent to typical and special needs children. Through his love for me, his love of my children has grown.
Quinn had a huge learning curve to catch up on with regard to Jason, my son with autism. Yet he handled it in the true style he approaches everything, with integrity, tenacity and acceptance. Through Quinn's example the rest of our family followed his lead. My husband began charity work, volunteer services and became involved with fund raising through Jason's school. With support from the company Quinn works for, Sonic Automotive, he has been able to raise over ten thousand dollars for special needs individuals. Sonic Automotive's compassion and spirit of family has helped facilitate our ability to grow as a family and community. It's not about being there since the beginning of the journey that matters most, it's about the impact you make on your part of the journey. All parents have a gift to give their children and Quinn's gift was becoming a magical step-parent who found his own way to bring us all together.
Rockville, MD
