Goodbye!

 Since April is just about over, this is my last entry for the month and I just want to thank all of you for following and showing support for the blog.  I’m especially appreciative of all the thoughtful comments and personal experiences you have shared and for helping me strengthen the meaning and importance of “Beneath the Surface.”

          

Writing these blogs has been therapeutic for me in a strange way. It has allowed me to look back on different events in my life that I may not have paid enough attention to when I was younger because I didn’t understand the significance of them. As a child I didn’t always realize what my brother was truly capable of, but over the years, I’ve been learning more and more about his potential. And for that, I am most grateful.

          

I want to also thank Pathfinders for Autism for giving me the opportunity to intern with them. I’ve had a great experience learning more about working in my field of study, while being a part of something so near and dear to my heart.

Although Autism Awareness Month is over, I don’t plan to discontinue posting these  blogs altogether. They may not be as frequent, but I’ve had positive feedback about them, so I see no point in stopping now!

Thanks again for all of your support. Until next time…

Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming

My mom is, by far, one of the most kind-hearted, caring, and patient people I’ve ever met. She worries about things a little more than she should sometimes, but she’s very good at working through obstacles and never blows anything out of proportion.

With that said, there have been many instances where Eric and I have done things that would cause any level-headed parent to have a conniption. This is one of those cases.

We used to belong to a public pool that we were introduced to by other family members. I’d say Eric was about 7 and I was 9 at the time. Anyway, like most public pools, this one was separated into two sections: the shallow end, and the deep end.

Naturally, my dad kept Eric in the shallow end and stayed in the pool with him while he swam. My mom rarely got in. She wears sweaters and jackets in 80 degree weather, so the pool water was entirely too cold for her.

One day, we were at the pool with some of our other family and friends and, for whatever reason, my dad had to get out for a minute. We didn’t think anything of it because Eric usually just stayed in the same spot anyway and bobbed up and down in the water.

In almost a split second, my mom noticed him swimming toward the deep end, which he had never been in before. She jumped up from her colorful beach chair and ran frantically to the pool to get him back in the shallow end.

I thought she was going to have a heart attack, especially when the lifeguards didn’t immediately jump in to get him. When she finally got her bearings back, she was able to notice the laughter and giddy smile on Eric’s face while he was calmly treading water in the 8-foot deep end.

From then on Eric didn’t like to swim in the shallow end. He developed a new habit of swimming down to the bottom of the deep end and back up, then bobbing up and down, sometimes staying under longer than normal.

From time to time, this gave my mom a mini meltdown until she remembered that he was just having fun. But he’s her son. Who can blame her?

It’s miraculous how easily Eric learned to swim, though. He was never actually taught how to tread water (mostly because no one ever thought he’d venture into the deep end spontaneously); he just did it by himself.

And that was the last time my mom was near hysteria because of something Eric and I did….

Just kidding.

Eric's 5K Race

Aside from participating in Autism runs, Eric also trained for a 5k with my mom a few months ago. Two nights a week they would go to the track to run and prepare for the race. Eric liked it a lot and we were excited to see how he would do when the day finally came.

He was off to a great start and even left my mom in the dust a few times. What we didn’t know was how literally he would take the mile markers. He would stop and pause at each one until my mom reassured him that he was supposed to keep going.

He also didn’t realize that if you got tired and needed a break, the rest of the runners would still be running. My mom found this out when she told him he could rest if he needed to.

Again, he took that too literally. Instead of relocating to the sidelines, he sat down right in the middle of the street where everyone else was still running. Thank God he didn’t get run over by anyone who wasn’t expecting him to do that.

As scary and dangerous as that may have been at the time, Eric had a great big smile on his face and laughed the whole time. It’s Eric’s little quirks like this that show us what is really meant by “pure innocence.”

True 6th Sense

You know how people say that dogs have a sixth sense? Well, I’m convinced that our dog’s sixth sense is being able to tell when a person has Autism. No, I’m not being sarcastic.

For years and years I begged my parents for a puppy and they’d always say, “if you keep your room clean, we’ll get you a puppy.” I wasn’t liking my chances.  But, by the grace of God, on my 11^th birthday I found the cutest puppy in the basement waiting for me. I named her Angel and, of course, I loved her right away.

We had never had a dog before, so we didn’t really know how Eric would react to her. He seemed confused at first as to why she was there but he’d pet her from time to time…then she would lick him and he’d get disgusted and return to the computer.

As time went on and he realized that she was there to stay, he started petting her more and paying more attention to her. By “petting her,” I mean he’d pull on her ears or tail and examine her paws by pressing on the bottoms of them.

Sometimes, when he would get excited, he would run around the house while she was lying down and he’d step on her without realizing it, or without caring. We’ll never know for sure.

What I find fascinating is that when Eric would step on Angel, pull her ears and tail, play with her paws, etc., she would just let him. Most dogs would have probably bitten him or barked at him in that situation, even if he wasn’t hurting them.

Usually Eric was gentle with Angel, but the times when he was a little rough, she wouldn’t bark and she wouldn’t bite. She’d just whimper a little bit to let him know he was hurting her. If he didn’t stop, she’d softly touch his hand with her teeth, but she would never bite him.

When he finally stopped, she’d lick him and stare at him with her little puppy dog eyes as if she was saying she was sorry for having to put her teeth on him. Maybe I’m just crazy, but I really think she understood on some level that he was different and that she had to have patience with him. 

Regardless, she loves Eric. She watches for his school bus in the morning and barks to let us know when it’s there. When the bus comes back to drop him off, my dad tells her that Eric’s home and she sprints out the door to greet him.

Angel is definitely the best dog our family could have gotten and her bond with Eric is so special. I’m not sure if I’ll ever understand it, but they definitely understand each other. 

Playing board games with Eric will make you realize you're not as smart as you think you are...

Warning: If you ever attempt to play Scrabble with Eric, you will lose…

My dad found this out a few days ago. First of all, he should have known what he was getting himself into because Eric loves games like that and he always does very well with them, but I digress…

For those who don’t know what Scrabble is, it’s a board game that involves coming up with different words that you connect to other words on the board. The more creative the word and its placement, the more points you get. The game is fairly easy at first, but when the board starts to fill up, it’s more difficult to find a good place to fit a word.

When my dad’s turn came, he was a bit stumped because it was getting close to the end of the game and making a smart move was getting difficult. Eric, on the other hand, was getting impatient with my dad for not making his move, so he took his turn for him. He then proceeded to make his own move.

That’ll show my dad for taking his time the during their next Scrabble match.

Christmas in April

Since it’s spring, it’s an odd time for me to be writing about Christmas, but I was looking through some old family photos that reminded me of this, so I figured I’d blog about it.

As you may have gathered from my previous posts, there are very few things that will spark Eric’s interest.  Other than the computer, movies, books, and other technological devices Eric really doesn’t pay attention to a lot of things. This becomes more and more apparent every Christmas morning.

Eric walks into the living room and sees a mountain of presents under the tree with his name on them. He seems excited at first, but then he goes about his regular routine. My parents will usually have to prompt him to start opening his presents or they will remain untouched until the next year.

Anyway, Eric will be opening his presents and as soon as he opens a book, movie, etc., that he likes, he takes it into his room or downstairs leaving the rest of his presents behind.

It really fascinates me how one thing can capture his undivided attention for so long, while there are about fifteen unopened presents waiting for him. God knows I don’t waste any time tearing open every single present I get for Christmas.

What do JLo, Eminem, and Blink 182 have in common?? Yeah, I don't know either...

I’ve talked a bit about how much Eric likes to read books and watch movies, but I haven’t really touched on his taste in music. If there’s anyone in the world who likes all types of music, it’s Eric.

He mostly listens to soundtracks from Disney movies, but every now and then, he’ll hear my or my parent’s music playing and like one of the songs. The first time this happened was when my dad and I were in the car with him and I had my music playing. I believe it was Jennifer Lopez oddly enough. Anyway…

There was a song called “Jenny From the Block” on that album and after that song played, Eric pointed to the CD player and said, “song again.” We were surprised since this song doesn’t exactly fall under the same genre as Disney music, but we played it again.

Sure enough, after the song was over for a second time, Eric said, “song again.” So, again we played it. I can’t recall how many times that song was actually played that day; however, I can tell you that I have not willingly listened to it since that day. It’s been about 6 years, maybe more.

This same scenario has occurred multiple times with various songs including: “Mockingbird” by Eminem, “Adia” by Sarah McLaughlin, “Wonderful Lie” and “Self Defense” by Paul Westerberg, “Feeling This” by Blink 182, and the list goes on.

Clearly these songs are all extremely different from each other, so who knows what it is about each one that Eric likes so much. I can only assume that his ears hear something in those songs that ours don’t pick up on. Whatever it is, it’s a mystery to me and I’m cool with that. As long as Eric finds enjoyment in life, I’m happy.