I read somewhere that it's easy to trap bees inside a jar. They don't look up. They focus on the bottom.

This is a picture of my son Jack. He has autism.

Four years ago, Jack went away to a college program.

I was terrified to let him go.

Who would keep him safe?

Who would refill his medication, and make sure he dressed warmly, and fix his glasses when the lens fell out?

In many ways, my world revolved around him. This isn’t anyone’s fault. It is simply the life alongside a diagnosed child.

But it meant I had to do the very hard work of untangling my own needs from his future.

Jack had the chance to travel with his program.

Here he stands. On a beach I’ve never seen, posing for a picture I didn’t take.

Letting him go was perhaps the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

Yet I didn’t want him to watch the world through glass. I wanted him to reach out and know his own sky.

And he is.

He is.