Wednesday, August 15, 2012


I find myself a little torn about this saying.  On one hand I really like it.  I do get tired of people saying, "Oh I'm so sorry" every time I need to mention that the boys are autistic and the doctor confirmed my suspicions with the girls yesterday.  But I find that I sometimes need to explain things to certain people when the boys do various "isms" as I like to call them.  These "isms" are things that the boys do and most of the time cannot control it.

Like Joey's insistance that the world needs to know about the game "Roblox" or "Pokemon".   He asks everyone this question, "Do you play Pokemon?"  He doesn't even know the unusual stares that kids give him.  Most are nice and walk away politely, but we have encountered a few at various parks that I would like to kick their butts and their parents butts for allowing their children to be so rude!

Or Brayden's insistance, when we can get him into a store, to help the checkout individual.  And they continually have to delete items because he is double ringing them.

Since we started traveling with Joe, we have experienced many...."Oh, I'm so sorry....don't know how you can do it." or "Well God blessed you with this task because you are a strong individual." (That one gets me...because I want to respond...."Really, you think God really wanted his people to have disabilities that interrupt their daily lives, including the inability to completely understand who their maker is???")

But I must explain their disabilities, because due to some of the locations we try to tour, I need to let tour guides know that I may need to make a quick exit, or at least attempt to.  I ask them the best places to attempt this so that I know ahead of time.  I also explain that we are not trying to be rude to any tour guide, but things happen.  And we don't want anything broke....not in a 200 year old plantation!!!  Most are really nice, and even give us private tours so we are not walking with another group.  With our upcoming trip to Philly, I even noticed on the US Mint website that you are encouraged to let the security staff know of anything that could happen with any disability so they are prepared ahead of time to accomodate!

This picture reminded me though.....that even on the days I don't think we can go on or ever leave the house again (and those days have been alot lately).....we can overcome.  I still have to avoid the obvious set the fair loud speakers Sunday...I forgot about.  Boats, caves, crowds, inside stadiums.....those we know are bad.

But hey, on the bright side of the things to least Brayden will go outside and get in the pool if it's not windy!  And We can go on tours of historical buildings if I remember headphones, sunglasses and his favorite blanket.  And don't forget to let him bring a snack, no matter how long we will be gone....because that snack is a security blanket too.  It might not seem like a big hurdle....but it's a mountain we climbed!  And if I tap Joey on the shoulder enough to get his attention, I can rescue the person he has cornered to share his Pokemon knowledge with.

So I just need to keep that glass half-full and remind myself of all that we overcome on a daily basis.....and if someone has to Say, "Oh I'm so sorry....", then I can respond, "Well I'm you see the big smile on their faces right now!!!"  Because they just don't know the mountain it took to get to where we are!!!


  1. Thank you for sharing! Can I ask what would you like people to say? For someone who doesn't know the right thing to say in that molment, I confess I might nod or smile.
    I think people who say they are "sorry" are trying to say they know it can be hard to climb those mountains. They don't know what to say. They know not to be happy about it so the next thing they think of is to be sad, which then equals being "sorry". You yourself said you don't believe God wants His people to have disablities. I whole heartedly agree. I don't think He wants people to die from cancer either, but should I not be sorry when someone says they've lost a loved one to it?
    So if there's is something of encouragement I could say to someone I meet who's kids have special needs please post and let us know. What would be the right thing to say?