Dar got a black eye and I have no idea how. He says it happened ‘in the pool’ or maybe ‘in my poo’ hard to say his pronunciation is still pretty garbled. At any rate his eye was black and he thought it was cool. I know he thought it was cool because when we were at McDonalds – yes we go to McDonalds – Dar ran into some neighborhood friends who ooohed and ahhed over his eye while he grinned, pulled his shoulders back and shook their hands (a high sign of approval from Mr. Still Pretty Autistic). His pride was cute, his black eye problematic. The complicating factor was that I was about to break my own – never perform near where you live rule – and would be doing my ‘please listen to me I’ve discovered amazing things about autism and cured many children show’ in my local community. Dar’s black eye could raise eyebrows cause whispers and blacken my credibility by association. Every single one of my children has put me in this position at least a hundred times during their lives. The autistic ones just put me there even more often. Its a funny life raising children out of autism …… as they become better they become more social but there are holes in their learning from the years of autism so they are still challenged and doing unusual things. You learn to laugh… As … On their way to typical each one of them passes through the label ‘brat’ ‘spoiled’ ‘out of control’ and ‘rude’ during this period they explore and become exposed to more and more danger with more and more creative ideas about how to create bigger and bigger reactions from people who are willing to be shocked by their behavior … until eventually they learn to value self control…. And fitting into the group. During this period it’s a good idea to work away from home keep your colleagues at a distance and try not to overlap your parenting reputation with your professional one. I was about to break that rule because I wanted to share with my neighbors what people all over the world hire me to share with them. And then – just in time to remind me not to take myself so seriously – Dar got a shiner… which he flashed around for all to see. I was mulling the situation over and deciding whether or not to feel concerned for my career when Dar picked up a girl’s drink gave her his eye brow flex of flirting and took a sip. ‘Jerk!’ she muttered. And the decision was made. My answer was no. No need to be concerned because the important part was working. I giggled hysterically and had to abandon the counter clerk to run and pee (it’s a weak bladder laughing woman thing) because I realized the girl had thought barely verbal Dar was ‘just another inappropriate non autistic black eyed pain in the ass.’ Ah life’s little pleasures.
