Wow...20 years...already?

This past weekend, I went to my hometown of Hanceville, Alabama to see my old pals and celebrate our 20th high school reunion.  Good ole class of 1992.  We were a great class.  We were pretty close too.  I think that is a plus when you go to a small school.  My graduating class had 75 students in it.  We knew everyone in our grade and many in the grades above and below ours.  We had a chance to be that close and develop those kinds of friendships.  My husband graduated from a much larger school than mine, with a class size at least 5 times the size of mine.  He played baseball and knew the players and had a few other friends, but that was it.  He didn't know even a quarter of his graduating class.  It was more like being at a junior college.  He had more opportunities and the programs he was exposed to where superior to those that we were offered, simply because of the size of our school.  But, he didn't experience what I did in school.  We talked about it and he is actually amazed that I know so many of my classmates.  We were kind of like a family in ways.  We took up for each other, fussed with each other, loved each other.  Like a family.

For some reason, 20 years ago, I thought it would be a great idea to be president of my class.  Not completely sure why.  I would love to say that it was because of my keen leadership skills or my vision for what our class could do to make a mark on the school and community.  No.  I think it was probably more because I thought it would look good on my college applications.  Seriously.  Isn't that pathetic?  Well, I should I have given it more thought.  I didn't think far enough ahead to realize that when you are a class officer at a small school, you are also on the committee to plan the reunions for the rest of your life!  I really could have used those keen leadership skills over the past few weeks as myself and a couple of close classmates put together our reunion.  We had help as the reunion neared, but the logistics were ours to plan.  Overall, I would say it was a success, but getting there was a little stressful.   For the record, getting people to RSVP is harder than pulling teeth.  Some were excited and responded quickly.  Then those that we had to "bug" a little.  We ended up with a good turn-out though.  A few of our friends were unable to be there because of other obligations and they were truly missed.

HHS class of 1992

Then there was the issue of giving a speech.  When you are president (or were?), it seems as those you are expected to say something "presidential."  But what?  That was the question on my mind for the weeks prior to the reunion.  What do you say to people you haven't seen in 10-20 years?  I even googled it.  Yes, I did.  There were no good suggestions.  Some suggested humor - not good at that. Others suggested something inspirational - not sure about that either.  And others suggested crudeness - uh, no.  So I started thinking about my life right now.  My family and I are dealing with autism on a daily basis.  God, through autism, is teaching us lessons that we may not have learned any other way.  We grow the most through the hard times, and well, autism is hard.  Really hard.  So I thought maybe I could share with them what we are learning about life through autism.  Then I realized there is no way I can stand up there and talk for that long!  So I just shared one little thing:  take in the moments.  In looking back on life, I realize that myself and maybe many others, measure life by the big events like graduating high school or college, getting a degree, getting married, having a child, etc.  But because of Luke's autism, some of those "big" events have been put into question, at least in my mind over the previous couple of years.  There are things that I sometimes wonder if he will experience.  My prayer is that he will experience those big events and more.  I know God is in control and His plans for my sweet Luke will come to pass.  I just sometimes have to be reminded of that when I get trapped in my "worrying" mode.  Anyways,  I shared with them about a moment that happened about 2-3 months ago:

        Luke was having a difficult time going to sleep and he wanted me in his room.  I knelt by his bed, bowed my head, and closed my eyes to communicate to him that it was time to sleep, not to play.  He proceeded to touch my face and as he would touch my eyes, he would say, "one eye", then "two eyes", then he touched my nose and said "nose."  I opened my eyes to look at him and as I smiled (because I just love to hear his little voice), he said "I love you."   Tears immediately filled my eyes.  This was the first time that he ever told me that he loved me completely on his own, unsolicited by me.  I have heard him say it before, but it was always in response to me saying it first.  He would parrot it back to me.  Of course, I loved it anyway.  But this was different.  He told me first.  I thanked God for that moment and asked Him to please let me never forget it.  I hope I never do.  


So, I concluded my little speech by trying to tie it all together.  Enjoy the moments.  I wanted them to enjoy the moments of that evening.  I wanted them to be able to say that when the evening was over, they were glad they had put forth the effort to be there.  I think, for the most part, everyone enjoyed the evening and was glad to have been there.  Not because of anything I had done, but because they were genuinely happy to see their old friends and visit, even if it was just for a little while.

To complete the evening, a classmate, Sherrie, showed us her comedic skills and made everyone laugh as she handed out fun awards.  She did a great job!  Then, another classmate, David, compiled an amazing video from our old pictures and we shared many laughs and maybe even a few tears while viewing it.  It was a wonderful evening.  It made me miss my old friends.  It is sometimes hard when you live away from those you were so close to for so many years.  We laughed, we cried, we hugged, and we smiled for pictures until our smiles hurt.  I am so thankful for the time we had, growing up together and our time this past weekend.  Looking forward to seeing them all again! (But we will have to hire a professional planner for the next reunion!)

Who says you can't go home again?

Me and my dear friend, Christi

Me and my sweet husband

Me and old pal April

Me and the gals

my friends, Kathy and Penny

Mendi and Christi

Angela and Michael

Sherrie and Angela

great friends

So glad I went back home!

The Best Seat in the House

This really should have been posted last week but I couldn't seem to find the time.  I tried my best to get it done yesterday, but the afternoon took a downward spiral and by the time everyone was asleep, I was too tired to concentrate on anything but my head hitting the pillow.  So, this morning, I am going to share with you something that made me smile and still makes me smile.

Last Monday evening, Nathan invited me to be in a concert that he was having in the living room that evening.  Well, I was honored to be asked, of course!  His only request was that I had to write my own song.  He was writing his and I had to write mine too.  It had to be 30 words.  No pressure.  Luke was exempt because "Mom, you know he can't write so he can just do whatever" so says Nate.  Made sense.  If you check out the clips, you will see.  Luke did whatever.

The evening came and it was concert time.  I have to say it was so fun to watch them funny and creative and comfortable.  I say comfortable because Nathan is often uncomfortable around a lot of people.  He is quite the talker though and he can be very entertaining.  It is always good to see him have fun.  And he put a lot of thought into his little song.  He wrote about the Holy Bible and that it was the greatest book on the earth.  It was his idea, not mine.  He is a very thoughtful little guy. He came up with it on his own and did not ask for help from me.  I thought that was pretty good for an introverted 6 year old.

Luke is a different story all together.  He is my extrovert.  During the concert, he was expressive and creative and he was talking!  I could understand him.  It was music to my ears.  There was a time when I didn't know if he would talk.  Now, I can listen to him sing his "a,b,c's" or "Old Macdonald had a Farm" over and over and never tire of hearing it because I can hear his voice and understand him.  It is music to my ears.  If I can get the clips to post on here, you will see that he sometimes steals the show.  He loves attention!

Last Monday evening, I had the best seat in the house.  It was silly and fun.  I loved watching my precious boys.  I wanted to share a few clips.  They are very short, only 20-30 seconds each. They aren't the best but you get an idea of how the concert went.  (For the record,  there was some kind of video malfunction when it was my turn to perform so no clips of me will be available.  I know you are disappointed!)  So, for your viewing pleasure..........

Luke on the fiddle singing his "a,b,c's":

Nathan playing the maracas ( egg shakers) singing his original song "Holy Bible" (With Luke crashing - or saving-  the performance):

Now, Nathan sings his song:

Luke singing (sort of) "Old Macdonald had a Farm"

Last but not least, Nathan and Luke singing a duet....unplugged:

So, that was it.  Our grand concert.  We won't be going on tour anytime soon.... or ever.  It was simple but fun. The boys had a great time. We laughed together. These are the moments I want to remember forever.