My Beautiful Child

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas. We did. We took a road trip to Southern California to visit my grandfather. He's 82. We had a fabulous time and even, courtesy of one of Santa's Helpers, got to spend a day at California Adventure and Disneyland. Needless to say after being gone for five days, on the way home I was wornout. We were at a Mc Donald's and S1 stayed in the playland for all of five minutes before he wanted to roam the restaurant and leave the premises. So while Dave tended the boys I ordered and when the food was ready, I took it to them and went to walk S1 outside. As we went to exit the play area, a mother we were passing leaned over and said, "He's a beautiful child." I quickly said, "Thank you" before the tears could spill from my eyes and S1 could run out the door without me. Even though he'd been in the car for two hours and was going to be in it for ten more hous, all S1 wanted to do was sit in the car! So I let him while I ate my lunch and contemplated what the woman had said.

Of course S1 is a beautiful child. I knew this. Beautiful inside and out. But I was so touched because sometimes I feel that only those close to him see it. I fear that everyone else looks at him and sees his odd behaviors and what is "wrong" with him. I fear what will happen to him if I pass away first. It was so reassuring to have a complete stranger recognize his value. Later on when I went in to get Dave and the boys I had a moment to talk to this mom. She was there with her four kids and I found out that she had worked in an Autism preschool so when she saw S1 she knew exactly what was going on. Later on when I told Dave about it, he was relieved because when her son was playing in the playland he was trying to get by S1 and S1 of course did not move out of the way. So the boy told his mom that S1 had pushed him. It was a relief to him that the mom understood. I guess the moral of the story is that if any of you see a parent out with a special kid, go ahead and step out of your comfort zone and compliment them. It'll make the whole day brighter.