Thank you for your invitation. After posting earlier about my son you expressed some interest. Most here are familiar that I am a conservative, but at the same time my life isn't that simple and I will elaborate.
Six years ago my wife passed away from a sudden heart attack at the age of 49. It was a huge shock to family and friends since she wasn't overweight, didn't smoke, and rarely drank.
At the time our son and daughter were 19 and 17. I didn't take it very well. Although my family income had essentially been cut in half not only did I refuse to file for the $300 spousal death benefit from social security, I also refused to sign my daughter up for minor survivor's benefits that would have been over $1100 a month for a year. I didn't want the money. Obviously I had a major case of denial going on. Looking back I can see it was a mistake.
My children had not only lost their mother, but their father was also a wreck, but it is even more complicated than that. Both my children have disabilities. My daughter was born with congenital cataracts and has had numerous eye surgeries. Her vision is reasonable and she reads and does what she wants, but her vision falls short of being able to drive, inconvenient for sure, but manageable.
My son on the other hand faced a greater challenge. He had been born with aspergers syndrome, a form of autism. In first grade we enrolled him in private school which lasted about a week when the school informed us they couldn't handle him. At that point he transferred to public school where he attended a special education class along with his regular classes all the way though till graduating from high school.
My son however is fairly unique. Although his condition is pervasive, he also has an IQ of about 136. He was also a Boy Scout and earned Eagle Scout. Last year a movie came out called "Adam" whose title character suffered from aspergers syndrome. If any of you have seen the movie, you know what my son is like.
After high school he went to Community College here and frankly didn't do very well. After a year there though, it was then that his mother died. As previously stated, I was a mess. My mother who is retired stepped in and suggested he come live with her and go to school there. She signed him up at Amarillo Community College and also signed him up with social security for his disability. He also gets government healthcare. Needless to say, my mom is a Democrat.
She put a lot of time and energy into him. Really that was something my wife and I couldn't do as well because we both worked. Her effort paid off though and he graduated from Amarillo Community College with honors. He is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
After Community College he transferred to West Texas A&M where he is continuing his degree in computer science and a minor in mathematics. He has is math done. He's been going slowly with 2 or 3 courses per semester because it's hard for him to focus on too many things at once, but his GPA is about 3.8 and he works hard on his studies over 8 hours a day.
He helps my mom at the house and she drives him to college. She is in constant communication with all of his instructors who all like my son very much. His social security she set up also pays for all his college and he is able to help with groceries.
Truthfully, I would be hard pressed to pay for his college and I know he has benefited from the social security he has received.
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