Tomorrow Will Be…
A memoir about autism, twins, and flying solo
After a painful divorce and the dissolution of her marriage, Kim Leaird moves 500 miles away with her twin 8-year-olds — identical boys at very different places on the autism spectrum — to start over. Relocating to the island of Martha’s Vineyard is an unconventional solution when barely scraping by, but her father and stepmother have offered them a place to settle, a place where she can catch her breath. Driven by her love for her boys, Kim creates a new home while helping both Sam, a highly verbal child enamored with the Civil War and Star Wars (in that order), and John, mostly non-verbal whose passions run to Baby Einstein puppets and Sesame Street DVDs, reckon with the end of the only life and home they have known while also navigating her own grief.
How do you reassure a boy whose brand of autism means that structure and routine rule the day and this move, this unprecedented disruption in his life, is impossible for him to understand? How do you help his brother figure out the intricate social dance of middle school cliques when you’re not even sure yourself? How do you start over when it is only you, a flawed single mom doing the work of two and you’re up against the forces of autism (You must live forever, and also, you can’t keep a full-time job), as well as the whispers and judgment of others. TOMORROW WILL BE… is full of unknowns and the daily, sometimes hourly, question posed obsessively by a child craving the predictable. TOMORROW WILL BE… a new school, new friends, new routines. TOMORROW WILL BE… lonely, impossible, and also full of unexpected joy. The first time your boys race along the cliffs in Aquinnah, laughing and carefree, the days stack upon days, and soon TOMORROW WILL BE… the unshakeable foundation for a beautiful life.
Spanning nearly ten years and combining vibrant vignettes of their life together, TOMORROW WILL BE… explores loss, disappointment, and the quest to be seen, heard and understood. In this celebration of resilience and neurodiversity, Kim emerges on the other side of grief to create a deeply meaningful life for herself and her sons. Ultimately, it is a love letter from a mother to her boys.
