To celebrate or not to celebrate?

Well, today is a really special day for many people who get to officially celebrate their “leap year” birthday because they were born on February 29th.  Now the other three years before another leap year rolls around, the question becomes, when do I celebrate my birthday?  Some choose an early birthday (Feb 28th) and others rather wait a day and celebrate (March 1st)….how confusing this must be for a younger child and many days or should I say “years” feeling left out.  Kids care about their birthdays, hey don’t we all?

As I contemplated this day, it reminded me of a child with autism (especially in the younger years) where he/she can feel really lonely and left out and simply confused most of the time as they begin to understand a world that doesn’t view it so literally.  My heart aches for a child, especially undiagnosed, because their lack of communication skills makes it even more difficult to share their loneliness with others.

Most likely we all know someone in today’s society who most likely has autism so accept them for being uniquely made and learn from their beautiful worlds as they share many of their own “ism’s” with you- many that make you laugh!  Allow someone with “aut-ism” to sprinkle a little love your way and celebrate every day as if it were your last birthday.  This means being very grateful!

A few priceless moments from my upcoming book:  Marvel in your Autistic Eyes

“Hey Mom, I like this watermelon, but I really don’t care for these raisins inside”

“Hey Mom, where is that little boy with the polka dots on his face?”

“Son, please go and lay that down on the coffee table.”  He looked back at his Mom and asked, “Mom is it really made out of coffee?”

“Son, we will have to wait awhile to get on the computer because I think it has a virus.”  My son replied, “Then do we need to go to the store and get it some medicine?”

Hope you can be amazed at all the things we say and all the responses we get in return….each one priceless.