The good the bad and the exhausted

There is a wonderful story of pure kindness floating around Facebook that actually made it to the news. A woman and her autistic daughter were on an airplane. The mother was dreading the flight and of course prepared herself for the worst. Then the best happened. The passenger sitting beside her daughter did not shy away from being called "daddy." He did not look away annoyed or worse, look at the mother with those judgemental eyes that say" you are a bad parent. control your child." Instead he acknowledged the little girl. He let he call him daddy. He played with her.
My sister in law passed this story along to me and I also saw it on the news. It made me smile. There is kindness in the world. A simple kind gesture meant the world to this family.
There is also a horrible story where lack of compassion take the lead. A mother took her 23 year old son who has autism to the movies. When the preview began the boy, or man as he appeared to the other patrons, made noise. He was bothered by the sound and had a hard time adjusting. It seems this happens to this boy and generally he calms down as the movie begins. On this day he did not get the chance. Other movie goers began to yell at the woman. They insisted she "shut him up". They made it so unbearable that she decided to leave. They applauded as she began to exit the theatre. This scenario breaks my heart for this family. But it does also make me remember many times when I have taken Robbie to the movies. One time in particular was an Autism speaks event. The entire theatre was full of those on the spectrum and their families. The volume was lowered and the lights dimmed, but not completely.  I'll be honest.......it was not enjoyable.... for me. There was a lot of extra noise. A lot of "eeee's". A lot of getting up from the seat and jumping. The wonderful part of the event was the fact that it was a judgement free zone. I wish there were more opportunities like this for families with autism, who need it or could benefit. We are lucky. Robbie loves movies and we have a wonderful theatre near us with large rows and huge reclining seats. He can get up if needed. That being said I do try to be strategic about when we go to the movies and where we sit. But it has gotten much easier over the years. This is most likely because we have practiced. We were given the chance.
The exhausted would be referring to myself, my husband and Robbie. It was not long ago I was
happily rattling off the amount of "good nights" we'd had. A good night could be one where Robbie wakes up a few times even, but falls back to sleep, or stays quietly in bed. A bad night is one where Robbie is awake and disruptive. Continually moving, running, jumping, kissing, hitting, kicking, talking , yelling...............generally waking up the entire household and being a pain in the behind. He will go to sleep at 9pm after taking his sleep meds and then wake up at midnight or 1am. He will remain awake until 5am. At that time he falls asleep- or more accurately passes out from exhaustion.  When I have to wake him up at 7am- he is not a happy camper. We have had a few weeks of too many bad nights. A call to the neurologist/ developmental pediatrician is on the immediate agenda.
Round and round we go it seems.
To end on a lighter note with more good. This week I had the first real phone conversation with my son.  I was out of town for work and called home. I asked him a few brief questions and he answered, appropriately. He is 2 months shy of 8 years old. It is a real triumph.
Additionally we received a note from Robbie's teacher explaining a scenario that occurred in the hallway. Robbie was walking with his teacher and came across a little girl his age or slightly older in the hallway. He stopped dead in his tracks, looked at her and said " wow, cute!" His teacher thought it was hysterical. She does laugh with him often.
I was laughing on the phone to my best friend explaining this story and said thank god for small favors. I know we will be blessed with infinitely more good, fight our way through more bad and honestly, isn't everyone exhausted these days!!!