My oldest son spent the summer attending a partial hospitalization program to help him learn to control his disruptive and sometimes dangerous behavior. We have a meeting tomorrow to see whether he's ready to come back to his home school yet. Based on what I've seen, I'm not so sure.

My youngest son participated in a therapeutic camp for his ADD issues, six weeks of intensive therapy, and he'll follow up this fall with therapeutic staff support (TSS) services and mobile therapy. Both his brother and sister have had years of such helpers, but now as he enters junior high, he needs them himself, to make that transition a smooth one and to learn strategies that will help him avoid the social nightmares that could arise if his present impulsivity and anger continue.

My daughter with autism became a Woman this summer, at the age of 11. Her hormonal changes radiated much farther in range than just within her body, and we've all had to adjust a bit. But she's done all right with the basic mechanics, and that's a blessing.

Me? I've had a major change, one I've been waiting and working toward for forty years. This summer I went from being a writer of novel manuscripts to being a published novelist. I've signed contracts for four novels in the last five months. The process is overwhelming, exciting, joyous, stressful and fulfilling, with a couple of handfuls of stomach butterflies thrown in for flavor. It's all I've ever wanted--and sometimes more than I can bear. This month I have the opportunity to travel to Colorado to take an intensive writing workshop with Margie Lawson, and I plan to immerse myself in the work and emerge with new knowledge and direction.

We all move into this new season, knowing that change is always inevitable, sometimes necessary and often painful. Journeys are like that. In order to find our new selves, we must leave the old behind. We strive toward our goals, setting each aside as we achieve it to choose new ones, continually changing and challenging ourselves on our paths. With any luck, we will still be warm, bathed in light, and be able to take time for a little fun along the way.