I finished this small watercolor painting this afternoon, which I had started almost a year ago and for some reason abandoned, most likely because life with the boys and their needs got in the way. Back when I was originally working on it, each time I showed someone my progress on the piece, I would undoubtedly get the same reaction…”what a gorgeous painting of apples.”

Only, it’s not.

It’s actually a painting of asian pears, pears that I photographed at a nearby farmer’s market last winter. I understand that due to their shape and colors people would assume that the fruits depicted were apples. Then again people make all sorts of assumptions.

A trip to the farmer’s market will show how many of our assumptions about what fruits and vegetables look like are extremely limited. Pears aren’t always pear-shaped. Potatoes are sometimes purple, tomatoes yellow and black.

Look at the world through the eyes of an artist and you’ll see that clouds aren’t always white and grey as most people assume, they’re sometimes periwinkle and golden-flecked and delicately pink and mother-of-pearl.

Spend time closely observing nature around you, and you’ll learn that mushrooms can be shaped like elegant flowers and coral reefs. That moths can be as beautiful as butterflies. That there is as much beauty to be found in the stillness of winter as in the full-bloom of spring.

People assume that autism is something that everyone wants eliminated. As the exhausted, stressed out, overwhelmed mother of two autistic boys I can tell you that I wouldn’t wish for a moment that my boys weren’t autistic. They aren’t meant to be apples. They’re asian pears. They’re yellow tomatoes. They’re fantastic multi-colored clouds. They’re beautiful moths. They’re perfect just the way they are.