Our boys have always been blessed in the sibling department. Most of them were close as children and remain close as adults. Jace and Justin are the closest in age. Jace was born August 31 , 1998 and Justin was born October 11 , 1999.
From day one Jace became his brothers keeper. It’s almost like he in knew even as a small child that Justin was going to need him. Everyone thought that they were twins. You never saw one without the other. Then first grade came and Justin was too young. Throughout the years they would share a school then not share a school. Joey our oldest son took them to and from school everyday. Michael was also extremely close to Justin calling him his little buddy.
Justin has always struggled with separation anxiety but then in 2013 the unthinkable happened. He lost a sibling. Michael passed away at age 17. After that his separation anxiety got worse. He wanted to stay home all the time and wanted everyone to stay home with him. Which of course is impossible. We tried to reassure him as much as we could. We bought books such as the kissing hand and explained to him about heaven and that we would see Michael again one day.
In the later years Jace went to college but it was only an hour away and we saw him frequently. Then came the Marines. In 2013 his brother Joey had joined the Army so Justin was familiar with the military. That was a hard 4 years we didn’t get to see him very much. Dylan joined the Army and moved away too so it was a huge year of change. Jace came home in October from the Marines and we settled into the holidays and a very comfortable position of everyone at home. Joey lives 10 minutes away, Dylan , his wife and baby were home a lot for the holidays but everyone has to live their own life and January came quick.
It was time for Jace to move again and Justin has not been happy. He was not very nice to Jace last week but it was just a mechanism to deal with him leaving again. Justin also doesn’t understand that Chattanooga is a lot closer than Afghanistan and college is a lot more lenient than the Marines. Just keep us in your thoughts as we travel yet another uncharted territory in the autism world. Any advice you have to offer would be greatly appreciated.
