straight line

have you ever noticed how busy moms get from point A to point B in a straight line? And usually rushing? And never noticing the roses, let alone stopping to smell them?

A child with autism doesn't travel in straight lines. They wonder over the curb to hear their feet crunch the rocks in the median. Then they have to a walk in the grass, well because it isn't the side walk. They have to grab the low hanging branches from the tree and kick the mulch at the door. All the while missing the side walk and not lined up with the door entrance. Suddenly he'll stop and look at you like, "what, you want me to walk in the building?"

Whether it's -18 below, sunny and 90 degrees, sleeting, snow, or thunderstorm down pour, there is never, and I mean NEVER a straight line from point A to point B.

Last Thursday I was in a hurry and I walked my straight line from the van door to the entrance, with a brisk walk, on the sidewalk, to. the. door. Like normal people. I was agitated that my son was NOT walking the straight line. He had done all the things I had described above. I was in a hurry and not happy that little mr. was not following the plan and "getting on with business" and that is when it hit me.

He doesn't walk in straight lines and probably never will. That is why I always, almost always, build tons of time into when we go everywhere so that I can get in my straight line and he can, well....not.

I was grateful that I intuitively knew this and didn't spend a lot of time trying to make my boy convert to a "straight liner". I just watch and wonder what is going on in his mind that he has to do all these things different things from point A to point B. That the destination doesn't matter, but all the things that you fit in along the way, even if it is just 50 steps on a sidewalk, from the van to the front door. That is what matters.

In that one morning my 9 yr old "disabled" son taught me more than my 50 yrs of "typical" experience.

I can't wait to see what else he teaches me.

a good mother would.