i’m always in awe at the level of care this mother provides for her autistic son. but this post is beyond perfect and wow-ness.
It may seem like a small thing, until you realize that Bud has never really been interested in having a friend before. We refer to the other kids at school as his friends. They call him a friend. But he’s never really been interested in having a friend. He’s refused the idea of playdates and, when asked, he’s named his friends as Mom, Dad, Nana, and Papa. Until now. Now he has Dierks. And Chris. And Rod, and Tim, and Robbie, and Steve. Now, he calls people friends. Now he knows how cool it is to have friends. And, my hunch is, now he is probably on track to want more of them.
I’ve thought a lot over the past weeks and months about the transformative power of friendship. I’ve thought about the kind of friendship that Dierks and Bud developed – the kind of camaraderie that’s created when two strangers “click.” I’ve thought about the kind of friendship I have with Cassidy – the same kind that I have with so many of you, who I know only through my computer screen, but to whom I feel connected at the heart. And I’ve thought about how those friendships affect us, anchor us, empower us, change us.
I’ve also been reminded about the power of kindness – about the power of doing something not because we must, but simply because we can – about how when that kind of kindness goes out into the universe, it doesn’t just add up; it doesn’t just multiply. It compounds exponentially. It transforms.
http://momnos.blogspot.com/2009/11/every-smile-memory-cassidy-dierks-and.html
