I do do not know about you, but I needed something to cheer me up. I hope you like this one…
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***Warning***
-Please read the post before commenting…
-I love my son, but I hate what autism does to him. For more of my thoughts on this matter, please go here.
-I will unceremoniously delete any rude comments. Like Temple Grandin said (and I was there when she said it): Being autistic is not an excuse for being rude.
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A couple of days ago my wife and I witnessed a conversation between our two boys. This does not happen very often, but when it does, magic ensues. We cherish those times.
Our older boy, Reynaldo, has autism. He is 20 (This was written in 2017). Our youngest, Andy, is 16 and taller than his older brother (and than his big sister, taller than his mom, and taller than yours truly). Andy is neurotypical and with a quick wit; in fact, he I see a smart a…leck. Because of that, even though Reynaldo and him are both equally smart, Andy tends to “win” in normal conversations, just because his older brother needs more time to process information.
That did not happen the other day. They were discussing superheroes, and Andy was essentially saying that a superhero with no superpowers is no superhero. He was specifically talking about Hawkeye and The Black Widow, both from the Avengers. Reynaldo intervened. He said that Batman has no special powers, but he is smart and strong and cool and has a lot of gadgets… The conversation went on, and there was no clear winner!
😃
My wife calls those clarity moments in Reynaldo “a break in the clouds”. Reynaldo has many of those. We don’t know what brings them. They are not related to any of his medications, or to any self-evident circumstance. They just happen randomly. Just like the break in the clouds that appears randomly in the sky. This, of course is an artifact of our perception and knowledge. We do not understand too much of how wind and humidity patterns create a break in the clouds, but there must be a scientific reason. Similarly, we do not know the physiological changes that allow for those clarity moments in our older son’s mind, but we love those moments nonetheless.
Wanna know why? Because at those times, they really see eye to eye, we can truly see how similar their minds really are…
And we love that in those moments, neither of them wins; they just keep bickering, just like brothers were always meant to do since the beginning of time.
My three masterpieces and yours truly in 2017 (believe it or not the boys hair came from me!) 😆
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