He Said What?!

Aaron was very excited to tell us that he had been to the deli on one of his shopping trips with his group.  “Mom, I saw some chicken on that swirly thing that goes around!”  Well, isn’t that a much more interesting way to describe how deli chicken is roasted?  Saying that they put chicken on a spit is just a little disgusting!  I like Aaron’s way of putting it a lot better!  You scored another one, Aaron!

Not to brag, but I’m expecting my nomination for Mother of the Year award to come today. That’s because of the great sacrifice I made the other night for Aaron. He wanted to watch one of his disaster movies and so since I refused to watch the giant spider one we chose F4 Vortex, the giant tornado one. It’s a German movie dubbed in English and is without doubt the worst movie EVER! Here’s a classic line: “I could hit you really hard!” I was wishing someone would hit me really hard and put me out of my misery. But don’t tell the Mother of the Year committee. Or Aaron. He thought I liked it – which makes me a far better actor than those guys on the movie. If not Mother of the Year then I’ll accept the Oscar.

 

Aaron and I were playing Skip-Bo last night, which we often play.  It’s definitely Aaron’s favorite game.  After all, it’s sequential and orderly and so fits him perfectly!  Our kitchen table where we sat is one that we bought from our neighbor several years ago.  It’s a distressed table, meaning it has pock marks and such on it – on purpose for that distressed look.  It’s become much more distressed  living with us, believe me – mostly with Aaron.  Very distressed, in fact.  Anyway, Aaron saw a scratch on the table and began picking at it.  I told him to quit and he gave me a little grin, so I asked him why he has to pick at things like that when he sees them.  His answer:  “Well, that is there.”

And for Aaron, that is there is the only reason he needs.  When that is there, he will pick at it, poke at it, scratch at it, slap at it, pull at it, cut at it, yank at it, clap at it, yell at it – shall I continue?  No amount of reasoning or reprimanding on our part will connect the dots for him.  That is there – and he will react before he thinks.  Concise, to the point, and unchanging!  Remember, Mom, that is there!

I have taken the plunge into blogging!  I have so much to learn and when that’s the case I tend to pull back, telling myself that I’ll try again tomorrow.  Maybe.  But I have been encouraged by many friends to blog – to tell my Aaron stories and share my lessons that I learn in my everyday life.  So here goes. 

Let me introduce Aaron to you.  He is our oldest child.  Gary, my husband, and I were married for five years when God gave us Aaron.  He was born in Colorado Springs in the old military hospital on Fort Carson.  That was an experience!  What an adorable, perfect little boy he was!  We were stationed in Mannheim, Germany when Aaron had his first seizure in the first grade.  It was so terrifying!  He was diagnosed with Epilepsy and began taking the meds.  Two years later, after no seizures, our doctor weaned him off the drugs.  Sadly, the seizures returned and so Aaron has been on anti-seizure meds ever since. 

We noticed Aaron’s social behaviors kept getting harder and harder to understand the older he became.  Finally, at the age of 14, Aaron was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome – high functioning autism.  Life was very hard during those teen years.  Behaviors were very trying and seizures were horrible.  But now things have settled down.  Aaron’s seizures are in his sleep and don’t occur that often.  Last night and early this morning he had four hard seizures.  That probably won’t happen again for a few weeks. 

Aaron graduated from high school in Goddard, Kansas at the age of 21.  We had home schooled him for 8 years but when we moved to Kansas we eventually put him into school.  He did very well for the most part.  Now he attends a day program called Paradigm.  They have an awesome staff who love him and understand him.  Aaron still lives at home and provides us with lots of conversation.  He loves to observe the world and TALK about it in some very interesting and humorous ways.  I want to share Aaron with you.  His take on life can be hilarious but also at times very touching. 

I also want to share the lessons and thoughts that God gives me at times as I just live my life.  For God is the center of our lives, the reason we live and love, and the One Who deserves our attention and praise.