The parade of tiny victories propels us miles forward.

As coronavirus days wash over our heads, moments both brilliant and dark just a watercolor brush of time – and as work so rudely intrudes on my new role as home-day program director, maid and wannabe writer – the triumphs hide in plain sight.

Will independently got his entire cereal breakfast today. Cereal, bowl, spoon and milk. At least 10 years in the making. Thousands of repetitions with dozens of social stories, picture symbol strips, light boxes, video models, coaching from helpers and parents On April Fool’s Day – no joke! – this man-boy showed he has it in him.

Should we be thanking our Coronvirus altered days for forcibly removing prompts and driving independence? Should we thank this blog, for the times I’ve been writing instead of hovering anxiously atop him, and thus forcing him to find ways to recreate, however altered from a neurotypical.

I say we simply celebrate. That every human has the potential for growth. That pandemics have a blue, if not silver lining. That parents can have a life, and loves outside their kids, and the space to grow them, too.

That the sun will shine, the challenged can succeed, and the world’s vast potential lies within us just waiting to be freed.