When Autism Has “The Best Day”

 

I was talking to a young mother in the grocery store recently, whom I knew. She also has a child on the autism spectrum. As I looked into her tired eyes, my heart went out to her. It was like seeing myself twenty- five years ago. Her child had had a rough night and morning, and it hadn’t been THE BEST DAY.

When my son, Kyle, was diagnosed with autism, nobody really knew what autism was, except the specialists, and a handful of people. The experts who knew the most also didn’t know how to really help us. Kyle’s medical, physical and mental needs were so complicated that we ended up being the ones who had to figure out how to meet each need.

My husband Vance and I felt underqualified for the task. 

Slowly, over the past couple of years, Kyle’s life has improved, through a trial and error system with different supplements and diets.

Kyle has been talking about going to the fair for the past five years. Each spring, in May, the fair comes to our city. Kyle loves to go on the rides and the scarier, the better! When he was younger, we would take him, each spring. But it’s been many years since Kyle started declining and he is just now, slowly getting back to his old self

This past year has been Kyle’s best in five years. We were confident he would be able to go on this adventure. Sitting on the rides is the easy part of the process. Wearing clothes when his skin crawls, leaving our house, transitioning in and out of the van, and putting up with the noisy fair – are the difficult parts.

Finally, the day arrived that his staff, Alisha and Nicole, had planned to take Kyle to the fair. I was three hours from home, taking care of my daughter-in-law Jazmin who has stage four cancer. It was also my husband Vance’s birthday.

Around 1:00 I received this video of Kyle and a message from Nicole, “He’s very happy right now, so that’s a good sign! It opens at 4:00, I will keep you posted.”

(once you press play the video will go upright)

 

Kyle hadn’t been out with his staff in over two weeks. He has a monthly bipolar spell every month that lasts ten days. Due to the season’s changing it went on a little longer in May.

My heart did a happy skip when I saw the video. 

Vance and I also texted back and forth about how happy we were he was out of the house and having fun with the girls. A few hours later a picture came up on my phone:

 

 

 

Then a text, “Haven’t got on any rides yet but outside standing and watching.”

Have you ever wished or prayed really hard for something you wanted for your child? A job, acceptance into college, the lead roll in a play, to date the girl or boy they like…

We pray for good days. We pray for calm. We pray for peace. We pray God will give Kyle the courage to do the things he has a desire to do.

So we prayed some more. We waited…

I jumped up from the couch and squealed as I saw the picture of Kyle on the Scambler. HE DID IT!!!

Vance texts me, and we celebrate together that our son had THE BEST DAY. That God gave Kyle the courage to be able to take on a mountain in his life.

After his ride Nicole sent another photo:

 

 

That is the look of pure joy on Kyle’s face. Alisha is holding his hand. I can tell you these two girls matched Kyle’s joy with their own. They work with Kyle weekly, and they celebrate his milestones with him and us. They want Kyle to succeed, to overcome fear, to climb every mountain and stand on top feeling elated and triumphant.

One more message came in with a video, “I have never heard him laugh this hard.”

*The movie will be upright once you press play

Kyle having his BEST DAY on Vance’s birthday was the icing on the cake, and if you know Vance, he likes LOTS if icing.

Today I am feeling truly grateful for the little things Kyle can do to be happy. Autism is a massive mountain in his life and so hard to climb every day. We hang on to the small joys of wearing clothes, leaving the house, and going to the fair…

Because when autism allows Kyle to have his best day: we all have the BEST DAY💗