Hi, I’m Abby, a Nigerian mama living in Canada, a project manager by profession, and the woman behind this blog.
I was born in Winnipeg, grew up in Nigeria, and returned to Canada as a teenager. I came back carrying the values, the culture, and the complicated beauty of a home that was many things at once. That skill, it turns out, prepared me more than anything else for the journey I was about to be handed.
My son Samuel is my firstborn. By the time he was a year old, something quietly told me that his path was going to look different. By 18 months, it was becoming clearer. At 4 years old, he received his first diagnosis. ADHD, and then autism. Samuel lives with a dual diagnosis, and raising him has been the most stretching, most humbling, most rewarding thing I have ever done with my life.
I started this blog during COVID. When the world shut down, Samuel’s carefully built routines collapsed with it, and so, quietly, did I. I was struggling to support him in ways I hadn’t struggled before, and I had nowhere to put it. Writing has always been how I process the things I cannot say out loud. So I started writing. Publicly. Which, if you know how private I am, was its own kind of miracle.
What began as a way to empty my mind has become something I did not expect. A record of one of the most remarkable journeys I have ever witnessed. Samuel’s journey. And mine alongside his.
This blog is not about having answers. I don’t have them all. It is about honesty. The grief that coexists with the joy, the victories that nobody else understands the weight of, the systems we fight, the people who show up, and the ones who don’t. It is about what it looks like to raise a neurodiverse child in a world that was not built with him in mind, from the perspective of a mama who refuses to stop advocating, even on the days she is exhausted.
This space is for every parent, caregiver, or loved one who is walking any version of this road, regardless of your background, your faith, your culture, or where you are in the journey. Whether you are in year one and terrified, or years in and still figuring it out, you are welcome here.
I am not an expert. I am a mama. And I am glad you found us.
Abby 🌿