November 15, 2026 – Sunday Blueberries & Coffee

Posted on Social Media Earlier Today

Sunday – November 15, 2026

Today’s installment of “What Would Tamara Eat?” #WWTE
Steamed milk with espresso & a bunch of blueberries (+ my levothyroxine) = “breakfast” today 🙂 at about noon.

I will probably have a more substantial meal in about two or three hours (out with friends and family), but this is what’s here (we’re traveling this week).

I don’t know how many of you understand how much being with / caring for my disabled adult son (24/7) dictates nearly everything I do (planned & unplanned) but – with that background – this little video (the image above is from a video I posted on social media this morning) captures so many important things! Including a bit of “quiet” alone time before he wakes up.

Things in the background:

• Charlie’s reversible cotton pink sun hat (must not leave home without it!) – A Portland, Oregon Estate Sale Find!
• Charlie’s sunflower lanyard and badge (critically important when traveling!)***
• A small portion of Charlie’s button and badge collection (he has hundreds from our travels and they are very important to him!) He also has quite a few that he made at the @omsi Teen Tech Center.
• A @wizards_magic button – Charlie plays Magic everywhere he goes!
  • He has played Magic in at least 7 different countries & has cards in so many different languages as well!
  • The Magic The Gathering cards in other languages are a great learning tool.
    • He uses an app on his phone to translate the words within an image which makes it super easy.  
    • These cards support his interest in etymology (he’s fascinated by language – that’s one of his super powers!)
  • Countries where he has played Magic The Gathering now include:
    1. Italy,
    2. France,
    3. Canada,
    4. United States,
    5. England,
    6. Ireland, &
    7. Scotland.
  • His dream one day would be to design / draw a set of cards for @wizards_magic and he is such a skilled artist at this point (especially drawing cartoons fantastical creatures), that I am certain he is up to the task!) @charlieparkerrubin
  • Magic The Gathering is a critical tool for me actually – as it helps to keep me sane by giving me unbroken time “alone”* to write!
• Charlie’s Rainbow Gloves (purchased a few years ago in Nottingham, England on the way to Sherwood Forest), very sentimental!

*Alone = I usually hide in a corner of the card shop / game store (wherever we are) with my laptop (out of his line of sight so as not to disturb his game) – giving him independent time to socialize with others / practice his social skills without me in the way – while I am  also staying near enough to help if he is having trouble for any reason. [ETA: As I have been doing tonight for the past 6 hours!]

*** Our disability travel tools include:

1. The sunflower badge (an automatic & unquestioned skip-the-line almost everywhere but the United States – including at most airports),
2. Charlie’s lifetime disability pass for the United States National Parks,
3. Charlie’s autism diagnosis paperwork which often gets us both into museums for free.
   • Outside of the U.S. (and at a handful of places in the U.S. too), proof of disability gets the disabled person and their care provider (“carer”) into a museum or landmark for free (if it is a public museum and if there is normally an admission fee).
   • This saved us about three hours of waiting in lines and about $60.00 yesterday alone.
   • The only consistently similar thing in the USA is the National Parks Disability Lifetime Pass (if you have a disabled person in your family and don’t have one of those passes, get one! It allows the entire car of people traveling with a disabled person to get into our national parks for free!)
   • Free admission is so helpful when you don’t know if your child will want to only spend 10 or 15 minutes in a museum or cultural exhibit (& we never know!)
   • Free admission also frees up funding (that may have otherwise been spent on admission) so that you can budget to buy the kiddo a meal or snacks at the cafe on site (which makes the whole day go so much easier!)