December 12, 2022
Never Give Up and Never Stop Trying
My daughter is twelve and on the autism spectrum.
Some of the hardest things for kiddos on the spectrum for my daughter anyway, are lines and noise and too many people.
In years past that has been a recipe for disaster.
Last night, I took my daughter to Glow with her bestie and mom and it was the first time we were able to walk through due to Covid restrictions over the past couple years. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but last night blew away any expectations I could’ve ever imagined.
She had an unexplainable calm to her and this kid loves all things Christmas!
My daughter happily waited in line to see Santa, waited in line for a train ride and waited as lots of little kids came running up to the princesses that were there. She waited her turn.
I vividly remember a time when my daughter wouldn’t walk through unfamiliar doors and wait in a line.
Oh, forget about it. And if we were ever able to wait in line, the fallout would be catastrophic and simply not worth it.
And something amazing happened last night not only did she wait in all those lines to happily see those people but as we sat down to have a snack of french fries, of course which, by the way, were not her favourite kind of fries, she ate them which was a huge win and when she realized there was a live band playing she asked me to go listen.
I took her over and she wanted to sit in the front row. She sat there happily stimming away, listening to the live band, and in that moment my heart could have exploded. It’s hard to put into words the significance of this, other than it was nothing short of amazing.
There was a point in time when we couldn’t even attempt these things because my daughter could not exist outside of our home. I’ve always said the world is not designed for kiddos like mine, but this kid is a true inspiration to me.
As I put my daughter to bed last night and we talked about how fun it was seeing Santa and she quickly reminded me Santa is watching!
I am so excited for Christmas this year. She gets it and she’s excited for it.
Hope can be a daunting thing, but it can also carry you through when you are unsure of what is next. Never give up and never stop trying.
Just look at her and her bestie!
On We Go.
Written by Jenn Dunn of Keeping Up With Kya
