When Aiden was six, a friend of mine was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
She called me to ask me to help her with her autistic children.
I had no idea I was autistic too, which is hysterical to me now.
One afternoon her 8 year old missed the bus, and I had to take his mother to chemo.
His four year old sister, six year old Aiden, my friend and I, in my little Kia Spectra, to chemo, then this huge park in Lakeland.
People from all over the world, literally at this park. And I’m trying to keep up with my ADHD child, who will rage beat the four year old if she pushes him too hard…and then the eight year old comes tearing past me. I tell Aiden and Sasha to stay right way they are, so I don’t have to find them again at this freaking huge park.
It’s a massive set of playgrounds called Community Park of Lakeland or something similar. So, what has the eight year old running as if Satan himself is on his heels?
Me, 340+ pounds in the Florida heat, trying so hard to catch up to this kid.
And this perfect Karen runs up, not a hair out of place, her makeup somehow not melting off her face like was it tattooed on???
Pulling two perfect little dolls that turn out to be her actual children, inside the freaking wagon. Why are they at the park if they aren’t allowed out of the wagon?
Whatever, not my problem. My problem is, this angry woman is yelling at me. It seems he flicked her off.
I apologized for him and explained his mother was in chemo, he was autistic, and under a lot of stress.
Now I know I didn’t owe her any of that information. I was less-informed that day.
She told me her kids were autistic and they would never blah blah…
I was just looking at her like she must be crazy to be angry at a child whose mother was dying for flicking her off.
OMG. Her poor pride.
If diagnosed and knowledgeable me today could go back in time, I would not only have flicked her off with both hands myself, but gyrated my hips and made faces and weird noises at her as I did so. 😜
And then take the kids in hand and skip off with them into the sunset with ice cream cones.
But the me back then handled it much less gracefully. Falling all over my morbidly obese dying of heat stroke trying to convince an eight year old I’m not going to hurt him, I just need him to stop running so we can talk!
We did go to Dairy Queen, after I finally had them all. And then, we picked up their mother.
She made a joke about her legs being dry and leathery. I said I knew she was part dragon but dayum…
She giggled and slapped me with her sick bag.
I took her home, and took care of her entire family including her bedridden parents until her husband got home.
Then Aiden and I talked about our day on the 90 min drive home, and sang Pink songs Just Like Fire.
And we cuddled to sleep that night, I felt blessed to have him, even though life had been so hard, so much harder for choosing life with no family help.
And I felt lucky to be having these precious hours with my friend.
I still do.
Adventures of an Earthborn Alien 