autism is a journey: Soccer Practice

Monday, May 5, 2008

Soccer Practice

Cal had soccer practice last Thursday night. Jackson saw the older kids practicing on a nearby field and decided to join them. He really wanted no part of practicing with the "little" kids. How wonderful for us that he is attending to his peers and participating with little support. How grateful we continue to be for people who are so inclusive and encouraging!

1 comment:

tylerbritney said...: Great job Cal and Jackson! You really do live in a great community. I know that Jackson will appreciate it when he is older. You must be so proud of your boys!!!; May 12, 2008 at 6:25 PM

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from "Metaphor-the puzzle piece symbol"

Ever had one of those "ah-ha" moments? I'm driving down the road today, pondering Jackson's recent successes--boyscout camp and football camp. It occurred to me that each experience gave me back a piece of Jackson. [I'm not doing a very good job explaining this...] When we learned about Jackson's diagnosis, so many dreams were snuffed out. We no longer thought about our son becoming an athlete, a scholar, or even a friend. We thought in much smaller terms:"how many words does he have?""did he learn a new sign""is he reaching out to us?""that's playing pretend, isn't it?"Our perspective as parents permanently changed. It's like we had this complete picture of our child and autism fractured it--into a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle.Each day little by little, we get pieces of the puzzle back. It'll never be complete, never the same as we expected, but there will be parts that will come together.Like when he participated in the school music program, enjoyed boyscout camp, rode the roller coaster and attended football camp. Bit by bit, we get pieces of what we expected back.Of course, the flip side of this is all the joys we gain from Jackson that we never expected in spite of the autism, but that's another post my friends....