Hey people I don't know, why you gotta make me cry...
So, a little backstory (in case you don't know me or have forgotten, since I have not posted in forever) - I have two children, two sons. Charley will be 13 on Pi day and Sam is 11. They are both autistic. Sam is nonverbal (though some of the sounds the boy produces could cause a person to go deaf) and Charley, though verbal, has very limited communication skills.
If you know anything about autistic children, you may already know that we are a very schedule-oriented family. For instance, on Saturdays, we have lunch at a local breakfast/lunch place - yep, the staff all know us (and our specific orders). On Wednesday evenings, we go to a local restaurant for dinner - and, again, the staff all know us.
My husband is out of town on business and usually when that is the case, I skip dining out. But, because we have started to get snow (and the last time the weather looked like this, the boys were out of school for nearly a week), I decided to brave it alone with the boys.
The trip was typical - mostly decent behavior, some aggression, some noise. What was not typical, however, was the two women who came up to our table near the end of our meal. They said that they recognized us, that they enjoy seeing the boys, that they think my husband and I are such good parents, that they understand the difficulties we have. And, they gave me a $25 gift certificate for the restaurant as a thank you.
This is actually the second time this kind of thing has happened at this restaurant. Yep, a year or more ago, a man sat by himself in the booth behind us. I was so worried that we were bothering him - turns out, he paid for our meal before leaving. I never even saw his face.
I have had to deal with people making comments about my boys - some said so I can overhear but not directly to me and some blatantly about my parenting skills. Those hurt but I can take it. Hey, I'm a mom and they're my boys - I do my best to protect.
But these ladies tonight - the ones I teared up over 3 times (the initial incident, recounting to my husband, recounting to my mom) - they are the ones I feel I have to share. I always feel some accomplishment by proxy when my boys master a skill or do well at something. But this feels like a win for me, a good grade for parenting when I feel like I am passing just by a hair.
These women took time out of their day to make me feel good and I just felt like the story needed to be told.
If you know anything about autistic children, you may already know that we are a very schedule-oriented family. For instance, on Saturdays, we have lunch at a local breakfast/lunch place - yep, the staff all know us (and our specific orders). On Wednesday evenings, we go to a local restaurant for dinner - and, again, the staff all know us.
My husband is out of town on business and usually when that is the case, I skip dining out. But, because we have started to get snow (and the last time the weather looked like this, the boys were out of school for nearly a week), I decided to brave it alone with the boys.
The trip was typical - mostly decent behavior, some aggression, some noise. What was not typical, however, was the two women who came up to our table near the end of our meal. They said that they recognized us, that they enjoy seeing the boys, that they think my husband and I are such good parents, that they understand the difficulties we have. And, they gave me a $25 gift certificate for the restaurant as a thank you.
This is actually the second time this kind of thing has happened at this restaurant. Yep, a year or more ago, a man sat by himself in the booth behind us. I was so worried that we were bothering him - turns out, he paid for our meal before leaving. I never even saw his face.
I have had to deal with people making comments about my boys - some said so I can overhear but not directly to me and some blatantly about my parenting skills. Those hurt but I can take it. Hey, I'm a mom and they're my boys - I do my best to protect.
But these ladies tonight - the ones I teared up over 3 times (the initial incident, recounting to my husband, recounting to my mom) - they are the ones I feel I have to share. I always feel some accomplishment by proxy when my boys master a skill or do well at something. But this feels like a win for me, a good grade for parenting when I feel like I am passing just by a hair.
These women took time out of their day to make me feel good and I just felt like the story needed to be told.