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New Adventure

Pre kids, I dabbled in photography. When my new life arrived, I had photography friends to call upon to document our beginnings.

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Sweet Dreams 'till Sunbeams Find You

I enjoy sharing some of our stories. Growing together has been quite the learning experience.

“Good night my love” I eagerly anticipated walking away from her room. Distracted thinking about the tv series waiting for me. With every moment that passed, knowing ‘I’ll get there’, the process felt incredibly slow. Standing next to her bedroom door reminding myself to smile, take deep breaths and reminding myself to put my hands at my sides.  I knew very well not to give her pause in her…

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Five Years and thrills

“Ahh- a vacation, I thought. The initial thought sounded great. The thought of time away with my two kids and my husband, Jon sounded good. Yet, the thought of a ship sounded stressful at the same time. I envisioned a giant boat and way too many people. I shivered. Yet, I smiled when I thought of hanging out with my daughters. Years ago, when Atara was a toddler, I heard about the cruise. The…

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True Love

In a beautiful home with a short fence, lives a huge brindle dog, named Chewy. He is scary according to some people who walked by. He loves to play with a plastic toy, but sometimes gets distracted by outside voices. Chewy’s large face greets them in surprise often with a bass like bark. On the mornings when squirrels come to eat the birdseed in the yard, Chewy excitedly join them and give them…

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who am I??

 Sitting at my kitchen barstool, I entertained the idea of wanting to solo-travel but I contemplated why I would to leave my husband, mom and daughter behind in order for me to explore. It was like a light bulb went on and all of a sudden, I desired to do something out of the box and on my own. Post having kids, independence had always been relatively foreign.  There was a tiny part of me that…

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Covid days

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Tova Stolovitsky

Integrative Seminar: Bodies of Knowledge 19 April 2019  The most effective ways to provide social inclusion for individuals with intellectual disabilities Auto-Ethnography based on individuals with intellectual disabilities           Having an intellectual disability should not be the cause for a barrier between an individual and the rest of society, although unfortunately this is most often…

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A special non-judgemental friend

A special person was part of our journey.

Atara was about seven years old when she met our friend, Charles. Charles was the other half of Paola, and they had two kids. Throughout the years, usually every month, five or more families would get together. Sometimes we’d go on trips together. I miss him dearly.             Anyway, the point is that, as Paola said, “he got her”. When someone makes that kind of connection with her, I…

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A challenge Or a Blessing?

“It’s not about making the right choice.It’s about making a choice and making it right.”― J.R. Rim If I have to be cooped up in the car, I enjoy listening to either podcasts or a good talk station. At least I was sitting in morning traffic and could adjust the screen in my car. Traffic challenges me. Just as I was inserting my phone into the jack, Jon facetimed me. I took a deep breath. He and…

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Maybe this Is What she Thought

Sometime this past winter, mom started talking about how I’ll swim with a dolphin. Everyone talked a lot about it and we had a lot of parties (fundraisers) all about dolphins and me. I met a lot of new people and everyone wanted to be my friend. On the day before Rosh Hashanna, I received a book with pictures all about where we’ll go and what we’ll do. I brought it to synagogue the next day. I’m…

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Here we go Again

Every winter, I would start looking for a ‘shadow’ who’d accompany Atara to camp. The female would literally shadow her at the beginning of camp and ideally become her companion. I knew that she needed extra help, so I never questioned the process of finding who’d be her ‘special friend’ that summer at sleep-away camp. When Tova was 11 years old, it was going to be Atara’s 6th summer at camp,…

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Moving Up and Out

When Atara was in her early teens, I figured it was time to give back to the community and share some of our skills with the younger generation. I didn’t care just to share skills; we’d do it in an interactive way so she could get involved. There had to be a purpose. I figured I’d use my background in therapeutic recreation (using activities to empower others) and her love for having friendships…

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pART OF oUR jOURNEY

Atara started at Summit school in 2002. What an amazing place. Under one roof, there are so many people on the same page as you, the care level is through the roof… As she’s grown, she’s become a lot more independent (because of those around her)In 2000, I went back to school fueled with need to work with others and make a change. By 2008, I had created Inspirational Awareness. During those…

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February 24, 2015 –Exerpt from Our pre-blogs to Participating In the cdtc program

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Atara Taking Control

Enjoy a little poem about Atara.

Trudging down the staircase He eagerly raced ahead of her When at the base, he wanted to chase another animal But decided not to when he saw that the snow fell at a fast pace. She then commanded “pee here”.

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A Start

We had an amazing opportunity that we made happen.

 She started hippo therapy in daycare. It was a great start for both of us. She loved everything about it; besides the $$, I loved everything about it  too; even the drive (initially 1.5 hours).  One of the best places to connect with a loved one is in a car- no one can escape. When she was 18, she participated in a dolphin assisted therapy program. It was beyond holistic; sometimes people ask me…

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My first invitation to awareness

This was about our life early on in our journey.

I was there to learn and enjoy Our new addition I feared our future I felt like an earthquake had enveloped us Our baby was never going to be a neuroscientist I quickly learned how silly that was