Monday, March 19, 2012

Give Us This Day ...

...our daily miracle. 

It seems like that's what it takes.  Miracles every day.  "Our daily bread" may cut it for neuro-typical folks, but not for those of us who are, or who live with non neurotypicals.   Ours is a life of miracles. 

This blog has been pretty heavy of late.  Time for a bit more bright side.  The ebb and flow of my writing is, in and of itself, an unconscious "confession".  I encourage my readers to go back to day one and read forward.  There's an unintended subtext in there that may tell the story far better than my overt topics ever will. 

We've had our share of miracles over the years and quite a few here lately.  It still amazes me that only 8 years ago, Nathan could barely answer the "wh" questions.  Nine years ago, he still had "room clearing" melt-downs at school.  The "gentle giant" people meet today is a far cry from the struggling little boy of what seems "only yesterday".

Miracles haven't been in short supply here recently either.  Nathan is reaching out.  I've covered his passion for feeding the homeless in a previous entry.  It's been brought to my attention that he is now making conversation with guests in our home.  Not only is he making conversation, but he's asking questions about their likes and interests.   He didn't start the conversation with movies/games/etc.  He opened with questions such as "What's your favorite candy bar?", "What's your favorite soda?", "what school do you go to?

Some will respond with "so what....he's fifteen....what's the big deal".  Asperger's kids generally lack "empathy".  They don't connect with others' interests/feelings/etc.  His ability to develop these skills in his lifetime has been a huge question mark.  He greeted "new people" at my party this weekend.  He introduced himself and asked questions.  He made them welcome.  He's actually showing the ability to "learn empathy".  I consider this miraculous. 

He even sings to himself these days.  This is a welcome change from his early babbling to himself in a language only Nathan spoke.  It's an even more welcome change from his recent self talk.  We non-typicals do not say nice things to ourselves.  I caught him singing "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley.  I can't help but smile.  It's an amazing thing to watch.

Give us this day, our daily miracles, and show mercy to those who can get by with "daily bread".  They have no idea what they're missing.

No comments:

Post a Comment