Autism Awareness~30 Days of snapshots: Day 2

The Beauty of snapshots, and the way they work is that they sometimes come to mind all out of order ( as in not in the actual order of when events occured) Earlier today I wrote about a Memory that happened when my son was much younger, a snapshot from my mind. This post is a more current Memory, one I DID happen to have my Camera for, one that is more a series of events blurred into one, more like an album.

My two girls have been having friends over for as long as I can remember…Birthday Parties, sleep-overs…my house is almost always full of kids, but until recently, my son did not do this. we did SMALL Parties for His Birthday, just the 5 of us. We did not do Play-dates. He just couldn’t handle it.  This past Fall he ASKED for a Party for His 11th Birthday! So Invitations were sent to a VERY short exclusive List ( see my post here “Balloons, Bubbles and Tears”).

There is one wonderful child who has found his way to the title of Best Friend when it comes to my son ( This is a HUGE First ). Today as we drove to the ballpark for another round of Miracle League Baseball, we saw our friends sitting at a red light, also headed to where we were and my son started jumping up and down in the back seat ” That’s My Friend!!!” He squealed. “I Go Play Baseball with My Friend!!”

To see my son making REAL Connections is a precious beautiful thing! To the Parents out there teaching your children to look beyond the differences, beyond the disabilities, to reach out and get to know kids who struggle socially, THANK YOU! Words can not express how much each of these kids has blessed my life by loving my son. Seeing His face LIGHT up as he Runs to Hug one of His friends is a precious memory. To watch as they patiently spend time with Him, playing what HE wants to play, not getting bent out of shape when he has an off day and wants to be alone….THAT is awareness.

We have come so far, was not long ago, my son had NO friends ( or if He did, He couldn’t tell me about them) except for Thomas the Tank Engine, Buzz Lightyear, ect. The Patience of These children has paid off…He now knows EACH of them by NAME! (This is HUGE Folks!!!) and RUNS to Hug or High Five them when he sees them! He ASKS to go play with them BY NAME!  He ASKED to invite them to His Birthday Party. So remember when the road seems long, and it seems like all is lost, you NEVER know when something is going to just Click…and when it does, WOW! It is BEAUTIFUL! Be Patient, and as Dori fish from “Finding Nemo” would say “Just keep swimming”……