I've said it so often that I've considered making it a bumper sticker or putting it on a tee shirt. In fact, in the month of August I said it on practically a daily basis. Autism is poopy. Well I'm happy to report that today was the kind of the day that reminded me - autism is not (always) poopy.
It started as a thought. The Bushnell Theater in Hartford, which is a professional theater in our area, is about to open their Broadway season with "Mary Poppins." To get things started, they had a free event today with various activities related to Mary Poppins as well as a showing of the movie (the sing-along version, complete with subtitles for the songs so the crowd could sing along). Historically, this type of event has not always gone well for us so hubby and I were weighing the pros and cons. It was one of those days where I was feeling pretty energetic so I tossed caution to the wind and off we all went.
When we arrived, RJC immediately spotted quite a few kites which got her excited! We stopped for a few minutes to watch a lady teach some dance steps. RJC wasn't interested in participating but she happily sat down and watched for a while. We moved on and could see where to get the kites so we stood in line for a while and RJC patiently waited, alternating between sitting and standing. She got her kite and went to the table to draw a picture of a flower and put her name on her kite, then excitedly went off to fly it. It was a perfect day for this - quite windy since it was just before a downpour. She was laughing and so thrilled to being flying her kite. Then came the drizzle. The sky was getting darker, the wind was getting gustier, and it was obvious that the rain was about to come down full force. We ran into the theater, RJC laughing all the way. We sat down, watched people sort of aimlessly milling about so I took RJC for a walk and discovered they were letting people in to the theater. Why not? I checked with the hubby who was willing to give it a try.
We found great seats near the door (ok, it's been 20 years, we know not to push it) and though we had to wait about half an hour for the movie to start RJC happily sat scripting relatively quietly. The movie started and she took my hand and gave me a kiss. There are no words. We sat holding hands throughout the entire movie. She loved every moment. Clapped along, made relevant comments, never once asked to leave.
Now I realize that this event was not targeting 20-year olds. In fact, I'd guess most of the kids were in the 8 and under range (with most in the "and under" range). The thing is, we couldn't do this stuff when she was 4, or 5, or 10, or 15 for that matter! It took us 20 years. The point is...we did it...and she loved it.
I started to think about everything RJC has not had to deal with. She never dealt with the social horrors of middle school or high school, the pressures of getting good grades, the concerns around college or boys. While these are usually things I mourn as losses, today I celebrated my girl just where she is and for who she is. I was teary thinking how difficult this would have been had she been the age of most of the kids who were there, and felt very proud to have had this experience today. I was teary wishing my mom was around to enjoy and share in this great victory of ours since she always participated in these activities and was with us plenty of times when we had to make a rushed exit. Mostly though, I was teary thinking how much I loved my girl and how sometimes, just sometimes...autism isn't poopy.
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