In life, we are all faced with moments which define us: make or break moments; Life altering moments. We all know the story of the person who went through hell, yet emerged either damaged for life, or gloriously victorious, like a Phoenix, overcoming, conquering, glowing: a beacon of light for others to follow. "Your life will either serve as a warning or an example" After becoming parents of an autistic child, there were moments when Sage and her husband felt like giving up. The fact that 1 in 68 children are diagnosed with autism is nothing more than just another random statistic, until you look up and are made to realize that YOUR child is that one, while the 67 others are not. Doubts, questions, blame, fear and sorrow all follow. It then becomes fight or flee and Sage and her husband were set to fight. Not to be discouraged, when the Reynold's 6 year old son was expelled from school for 9 months, instead of sitting back and crying victim, they fought the fight and got involved. They took charge of their son's education, and, in that fight, they wrote THE OPTIMISTIC AUTISTIC in order to help share the map of their travels, so that others might learn and not feel so alone in their special needs struggles.