So Forth And So On Saturday
Our autism journey

“BowWing”, Owen says, as he gets in bed with me, sometime in the middle of the night, and promptly falls asleep. For that I was thankful. Exhaustion has ruled my world this week. We woke hours later, and he first said, “wanna milk”, and then promptly says his teacher’s name followed by “bowWing”. We laid there for awhile talking through what our day held, where he wanted to go, and what we would be doing. I told him it was the weekend, our time. “Let’s go to the coffee shop today”, he said as we were getting out of bed. It is really hard for Owen to answer questions. I try to feed him the answers to questions, varying them only slightly so he understands the responses. I want him to be able to tell people who he is; I want him to be able to ask people questions, as well. I ask him repeatedly “what’s your name”. He says his name most of the time, but I’m working with him to say, “I’m Owen what’s your name”. When I try to get him to repeat it, he will only say, Owen. It will come. I want him to understand interactions with people. But for today he knows where he wants to go. He keeps repeating, “let’s go to the coffee shop today”, adding bowling to his chant, occasionally. “I want to go bowWing pwease“, he said, after not getting many responses from me without the word please. I told him that we had to wait until it opened. He promptly followed it with “then I will go bowWing”. I told him, yes he would, smiling from ear to ear. There is so much joy in knowing I can take Owen places that he loves. Walking out my door is daunting some days. Owen doesn’t always adjust well to new environments. And I don’t always adjust well to my own insecurities, and emotions. Acceptance is something we all want, and walking out our door brings a huge wave of emotions that I try to stuff back inside my soul, so that I can keep moving forward. I have to keep moving forward. The more I immerse us into the world the more my son shines. I have to remember that part, because it feels easier to hide, safely in our home. Life’s journey is sometimes messy, but there are beautiful adventures that wait. Go, seek, and explore your world today. Smiles to all and donut daze!
