by Tab Moura
My daughter gasped as I was driving my van down the road the other day; I had a glass of water in one hand and my left hand on the steering wheel. This isn’t a big deal to me, I learned how to drive on a Ford Ranger with manual shifting… and believe me, driving stick while holding coffee is much more gasp-worthy, but I digress.
My daughter was surprised that the car still worked if I wasn’t steering with both hands. This was news to her because we had recently turned her car seat around. While she was busy taking everything in, I was struck by how beautiful this was.
Aria is 3.5, is autistic, and has a severe expressive speech delay. As her therapists will attest, her comprehension and expressive language fluctuate a lot throughout the month. History suggests it’s tied to her stomach issues somehow, it led to failure to thrive, and regular cyclical vomiting. Aria has been a cannabis patient for a year now and we have seen incredible progress with her sleep habits, weight gain, and relief from some of her stomach pains.
Cannabis, along with adding daily vitamins and minerals, has helped her quality of life significantly. We see way fewer stomach pain days, and she is decidedly quite talkative. Adding cannabis has been, for lack of a better metaphor, akin to turning around Aria’s car seat. We see and understand her health so much better now.
It was nice to be in the car with her while she could see what was going on, instead of relying on her big sisters to help me figure out what was bothering her. It was nice to share space with her while she was asking questions and learning about the world. But more than anything I am so thankful I was willing to ask my own questions, which led us to cannabis.