My 7 year old son Max has autism.

His "diagnosis" persists in being difficult to completely comprehend. It sits at the edge of consciousness, reluctant to enter my mind and take a permanent seat.

An odd feeling, to know something and still not know. Denial continues.........I suspect.

Ellen Notbohm the author of the book, "Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You knew," so accurately writes this fact, so reassuring to this Mom of a little blond haired blue eyed boy with this disorder............. " I am first and foremost a child. I have autism. I am not primarily autistic".

Yes! Max, like all "normal" or as the medical community would say "neuro-typical" little boys, he worships and wants to be a Super Hero. Save the world, fight bad guys!

Is this a separate blog? It is after all about addiction and alcoholism not autism.

Life though is not so clean and delineated. Overlap of issues in real life is frequent if not constant.

So off to the movies Max and I go

He sits in the front seat of my extremely disheveled van. Feet suspended on the dash. Music way up ,we compete for which station to listen to.

We share a love of loud rock and roll and driving too fast, windows down. Risk takers by nature we commune in our own shared ways. Mom and son. Addict and autistic.

At the theater we get our child's tray of snacks.

Max phrases, utters almost roboticly what he desires to eat EXACTLY the same way every time!

Any Mom with a kid with autism knows what I mean.

Repetition is a way of life. This trait has made Max a beautiful swimmer.

Laps in the pool, back and forth and back again are his strength and his security I suspect.

So we have our snacks and we settle in for a good ride.

What a good ride it is! The last sentence spoken in the film is the best for me. The words bring goosebumps to my arms!

In all of the other Super Hero movies we have seen the "Hero" denies his alter ego. He stays anonymous............maintaining his secret life.

In the last scene of this movie Robert Downey Jr. is giving a press conference. His advisers hand him an alibi. He is to go public and strongly deny that he is this "Hero".

This is what he says instead that brings both tears of to my eyes and a bone crushing knowledge that just perhaps he has another meaning in his words. An inner truth that only a fellow addict can hear.

For a fraction of second he glances down. He hesitates ever so slightly. Looking up with a perfect blend of humility and pride he states "Yes........... the truth is............ I am Iron Man".

Against great odds like Robert Downey Jr., I too"have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body", that is drug addiction.

As I watched the ending of the film this is what I heard and saw in his face.

It bears repeating. This combination of traits, the balancing of ego, pride and humbleness is essential to lasting sobriety. He expressed this so eloquently in both words and expression............I am Iron Man.

Yes you are.

All of us that have waged this battle and won are "Super Hero's" to me.