I Know People Watch Us

I know people watch us.

I know because I see their faces dart away when I meet there eyes.

What they don’t know is if they kept looking, if they met my eyes, they’d see I was smiling. They’d see that I was inviting them in our secret world.

Cooper and I just went for our first walk of the year. It’s 45 degrees today in Minnesota. That’s practically summer for us. And also a temperature that Cooper has deemed warm enough to venture outside.

Typically, it’s like pulling teeth and a hostage negotiation in one to get this kid moving. But not today. He grabbed his shoes and coat and out we went.

I set the timer for 20 minutes on my phone. And off we went.

We ran.

We stomped in every single puddle. And I mean every single one.

I threw a snowball at him which he found to be unacceptable. But we both agreed to throw one at Dad later.

We stopped. We did quite a bit of twirling and dancing.

This kid and I can really shake our booties.

We zoomed like airplanes in the middle of the street. We listened for trains.

We looked down storm drains for monsters.

We spelled STOP and HOME. I sang the Itsy Bitsy Spider. And that was just the first block.

The second block we stopped at the park for exactly one slide down. It’s always only one slide down. No more. No less. Than done.

The third block we played eye spy with my little eye. Which is new.

I know people are watching us. We are loud and really, really silly and so very happy.

I used to get so nervous when people stared. And then I learned to not care. And I got way more comfortable in my own skin. Like Cooper.

Once I let my guard down I realized that 99% of people are just curious about the mom and big kid zooming like airplanes in the middle of the street. They aren’t staring to be mean. They just want to understand.

Now I educate. We spread autism awareness everywhere we go.

And I know someday, it will be me and an adult man twirling with our arms outstretched to the sky. Laughing. Smiling. Sharing our magical world.

And maybe, people will join us and say Hi COOPER.

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Finding Cooper’s Voice is a safe, humorous, caring and honest place where you can celebrate the unique challenges of parenting a special needs child. Because you’re never alone in the struggles you face. And once you find your people, your allies, your village….all the challenges and struggles will seem just a little bit easier. Welcome to our journey. You can also follow us on Facebook, subscribe for exclusive videos, and subscribe to our newsletter.