This year there will be no white Chevy Tahoe, small yellow
school bus or big yellow school bus stopping by our house. This year Alex will
not stall until she has missed the high school bus and ask one of us to drive
her to school.  For the first time in 17 years,
Alex will not be attending school. This is bittersweet.

Alex graduated from high school in June with an academic diploma,
and is ineligible to receive services from our public school system. This is a
decision Alex made, she wants to go to college just like her older sister and
just like her peers, and we supported her. This is not bittersweet, it was time
to move on.

Alex has been wait-listed at her first
choice college. Over 100 students applied for 10 spots, and Alex was one of
lucky ones to make the wait list. This has turned out to be a good thing – in the
world of things happen for a reason – as she will be training for the Winter
World Games, and would have missed a lot of school.  She will have priority for next year. 

If things work as planned, Alex will spend the year interning
in a restaurant, clothing store and the childcare program at Snowmass, exploring
her interests and honing down on her future dreams. Alex will be taking courses
at the local community college, and music and art lessons in community based
programs. Alex will not be doing anything with our local service provider, she
is not interested in being segregated from the rest of the population, or have limitations
set by federal or state dollars.

This year Alex is a 19 year old high school graduate taking
a “gap” year, just like thousands of other high school graduates across the
country. She will take public transportation and her bus will be purple, blue
and white, no yellow anywhere. She will be part of our community, included and
valued for her contribution.

When I think back on the last 17 years of Alex’s education, I
remember all the fears, tears and cheers that accompanied this passage of time.
We met so many wonderful and caring professionals, and some not so wonderful
or caring. We had great years, and not so great years. We had growth and
regression, but mostly we had pride. Pride in Alex, pride in her teams and
pride in her future.  It has been a
journey that we have only partially traveled, and it is the best journey I have ever
taken.

When I started this blog in August 2009, I set out to document
Alex, her strengths, her challenges and her spirit. A big part of Alex’s
journey has been through the school system and I wrote a series entitled “Educating
Alex”.   To celebrate this journey I will be republishing
this series
for the next two weeks. Who knows maybe we learned something.