"He had a great day."

Every afternoon the teachers said it. And every afternoon, we braced at our own front door.

If you know that front door, this book was written for you.

Before the Storm is my account of raising my autistic son — the hour-long storms, the broken windows, the apology he offers from inside a meltdown, and the afternoon I understood that the meltdown was never the failure. It's unsentimental and frequently funny. It refuses the two stories usually told about this life — tragedy or inspiration — in favor of what actually happens behind the front door at 3:30. It's the book I couldn't find when my own family needed it.

Inside:

Why a child who holds it together for seven hours falls apart the moment he's home — and why that's evidence of trust, not bad parenting

Why the apology comes in the middle of the storm, not after

What the 80% divorce statistic actually says — a study of roughly 78,000 families found essentially no difference

The therapy dog we got wrong, and the one we got right

What to put in the note home, if you're the teacher

Written for parents who are exhausted: about ninety minutes, start to finish. This is not a book of credentials. It's a book of attention — and attention is the one thing every parent already owns.

For every parent who has swept up the glass, endured the stares in aisle seven, and wondered at midnight if their family is the only one: you're not. Come see.