As a mother of a child with autism, I look at the world differently than I did before my son was diagnosed at the age of 3. His father and I always had a gut feeling that he would be identified at some point in his young life because of the signs Nicholas exhibited. We no longer look at those signs as "autism" but as just who Nicholas is. He is a beautiful gift that we have been blessed with, along with the other people Nicholas interacts with daily. The strength this child has is so inspiring! As an adult, waking up knowing that you have to face so many different struggles to get through everyday life is difficult enough. Nicholas does it without a single complaint! He works so hard to prove that he can do everything! Nothing can hold him back, well except taking a break to eat his popcorn and a glass of water with a ton of ice.