Growing up, I recall my mom mentioning that she had an interest in doing creative art like drawing or painting alongside her love of singing, but unfortunately, she felt compelled not to pursue it because her oldest sister got all the attention for art.

I'm always impressed by just how close the bond is between my mom and her twin sister, especially looking back at all the pictures of them together... You can tell just how close they are from most of the photos taken growing up—whether on birthdays, when they dressed up as pancakes for Halloween, or when they modeled together in the 80s! They have a bond that just can't be broken, even though they can be so different sometimes.

My mom lived with her twin for a while in a local apartment complex before eventually both of them got married... The difference was that my aunt is still with her husband, whereas my mom eventually divorced her ex-husband. I heard he was really into sports and would just sit around all day watching them on TV (no wonder she divorced him!).

No offense to anyone who likes that kind of dynamic, but I just can't see myself enjoying a partner who sits around all day watching sports, and quite frankly, I don't think my mom enjoyed it either, which is probably why they eventually divorced. What makes the whole thing so funny, though, is that my mom's twin sister married a guy who sits around all day watching sports XD!

Add to that the fact that my mom would run into her ex-husband from time to time over the years with his new wife and autistic daughter... An autistic daughter?! Both my twin sister and I (and apparently my brother too) are part of the Autism spectrum! How crazy is that coincidence?! The man my mom used to be married to ended up having an autistic child too!

My mom grew up playing sports, though, so perhaps that's why she's been so into watching them ever since I was little... It used to be just hockey and seeing my cousins play their sport professionally, but now there's at least one more sport my mom likes to watch when it's on!

Growing up neurodivergent was quite an interesting experience, but at the same time, it's the only life I knew, so I really didn't know it any other way. Because of my early Autism diagnosis, I never got to experience public school officially. But at the same time, most of my early elementary days weren't much better because of the bullying both my sister and I experienced.

The bullying actually started as young as preschool for us... Our parents put us in a Christian preschool that had a cute small insect's name in it. While I don't remember the experience vividly, certain memories have stayed with me, and my mom has opened up to me about what my sister and I went through back then.

Apparently, when I was in preschool, it was pretty clear that I really wanted to make friends. But what made it so hard was my neurodivergence, the extra-close bond I had with my twin sister, and the very obvious judgment and bullying from some of the kids there.

Most of the children at that preschool were of a different ethnicity from us, though there was one kid who was Caucasian like my sister and me. As it turned out, he became the first bully my sister ever had to deal with when he hit her in the bathroom (which had multiple stalls and urinals that both girls and guys used). And then years later, we realized he was actually one of our nana's neighbors!

Me, on the other hand, I don't really remember ever having any issues with that same kid—besides one time when I recall fighting over a toy bus of all things with him! I somehow ended up sitting in an office with him and a teacher to sort out the situation.

However, I definitely dealt with my own share of bullying from other kids too—specifically one boy and one girl. The boy called me "stupid" on the playground after I said something with excitement that sounded like gibberish to him, and then he hit me.

My mom, who saw the whole thing happen, walked right over to the other parents and asked who his mom was so she could explain what he did. The very next day, the kid still refused to actually say "I'm sorry." So instead of an apology, he walked over to me on the playground with his mom and offered me a big bag of chips XDD!

The other kid I dealt with was a girl playing with another classmate from the preschool's majority ethnic group. I was sitting at the bottom of the slide when they came sliding down, and one of the girls looked at me and said, "You can't—"

Before she could even finish her sentence, my mom caught the look on her face, stepped right in, and shut her down before she could say anything else mean to me.

My mom really was always our knight in shining armor growing up, and she still is now. It was her idea to switch preschools to one where parents could attend. I don't remember as much from that second preschool compared to the first one, besides trying to do arm actions before snack time and struggling with it because of my motor coordination issues. But the teacher there was very nice.

When we were in daycare, I think my sister might have been bullied a bit too. But even through all the chaos, we still had each other and loved each other dearly—and we still do to this day, through every difficulty.

I'll stop here for now, but stay tuned for Part Four!

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