My muse went missing a few weeks ago and did not leave a forwarding address. This frustrated me, as there was a lot going on I wanted to write about, but I was stuck. Luckily, she showed up again last night. Boo has had a busy couple of weeks. He went to the dentist and got a clean bill of health. He rocked his appointment at the eye doctor’s and chose a new pair of glasses. A week later the glasses came in and he can see again. His transition school is going to reopen part time next week and to welcome all the new students, the teachers and aids did a drive by parade past our house to welcome him. The parade was lead off by a fire truck. Boo did not seem terribly impressed when I told him most people do not get this kind of welcome to higher education. Anyway, I thought the fire truck was cool.
Most importantly, this week Boo Bear voted in the general election. We discuss politics a lot at home and I make a point of showing him all the political yard signs around our neighborhood. When our absentee ballots came in the mail, I just asked Boo yes or no quesitons about the candidates and he pointed to the his politician of choice. The next day he, Alissa and I took a field trip to the polling place and he proudly put our ballots in the box. Being nonverbal does not stop one from doing their civic duty.
I have mixed emotions about sending him back to school after a 7 month absence. We have been together, nearly joined at the hip, since March 9. We have been through sickness and health and seizures that I thought might never end. I have spent nights sitting at the foot of his bed, watching him breathe, as if the seizures would be scared off by my very presence. I am the first face he sees when he wakes up the morning and the last face he see when he goes to sleep at night. He loves his PCAs and his daddy, but first and foremost, I am his person. He loves school, but I think getting used to it again after such a long break may take a while. He has a new teacher, a new building, and new classmates. He will be going to school two days a week, instead of five. Everything is different. And, I can bet my sweet autistic hat that different is not always good. Autism loves familiarity and routine. Until Boo establishes a bond with his teacher and gets into the swing of a new routine, things may be dicey for a while. It’s hard to tell what is going on with him right now. Before he has a seizure he can get very weepy and shaky. He has been weepy and shaky most of today. I worry. We have been seizure free for almost 4 months, but Epilepsy never goes away, it just lurks in the background, waiting to pounce. I hope that we can weather this particular storm without any seizures. Maybe it is just a passing mood.
So, hold us in your hearts, friends, as we begin this transition back to school. It may be a bit of a wild ride, or Boo might surprise me again and take to it like a duck to water. One way or another, the bus will pull up in front of our house next week and he will get on it. Suddenly, I will have 8 hours of my own. I have no clue what I am going to do with myself, but I am sure that I will figure it out. Be good humans, and don’t forget to vote.
Harriet's Hedgehogs and Autism Advocacy 