For every moment that is hard, there is another moment that wipes it all away.
Friends. That's not really something to celebrate with your kids. It's just part of growing up. Kids go to school, they make friends. They come and they go with time. It's just what happens.
Except it's not. Not when your kids have autism. And things like language issues and social issues that go along with it.
A few weeks ago, I got an email for the school's special education coordinator. She was passing through the cafeteria at lunch and overheard a little boy telling his classmates that another little boy was his best friend.
That little boy was talking about Xander, telling his classmates that Xander was his best friend.
Xander is not your typical friend, of course. His autism is not quite as severe as Sawyer's autism, but it's still there. There are still language issues and social issues.
Xander does have some language, and while it's usually functional, it is typically scripted. He memorizes phrases and situations, or mimics things that you say to him. He is integrated into the classroom with the help of his aide, but he still has challenges. Like Sawyer, he has trouble sitting still for long periods of time and can also be subject to loud vocalizations that are often out of context with the classroom.
But there's a little boy in that classroom that likes him, that calls him his best friend. He looks past the differences and sees a little boy that he likes.
That is an incredible moment, one we celebrate.
The email from school made me smile.
The following emails from other teachers that went into more detail about how this little boy always sits by Xander at lunch and how he always sticks by him at recess, were even more amazing.
And the moment last week at the Thanksgiving lunch, when that same little boy's mother came up to me and introduced herself and her son, well that moment was even more amazing. She said her little boy always talks about Xander and what the two of them have done at school that day. She told me how sweet my little boy was when she came into the classroom, and she told me that her son has even gone so far to add Xander into his nightly prayers, which he says for each member of his family.
There are not words to describe how that moment felt, how much it meant.
For every really hard moment (see post below), there is an even better moment like this one. People who look past the differences, who see the amazing little boys in spite of their autism.
Those are the moments I keep close, the ones that give me hope for the future.
