Asperger's (and Other Big Words That Come From His Mouth)

Nobody got a card the same as me on Mother’s Day this year. Nobody.

A folded page from an A3 sketch book. The edge is torn where the perforation resisted letting go. Swirls of green, smudges of brown, squiggles of red and purple adorn the outside; no doubt contributed by little brother.

The front bears a cute (big brother) rhyme about this day coming but once a year.

Inside is mostly blank. In the top left corner, neatly framed in a box, there is a message:

Dear Mum,

Happy Mother’s Day!

May God bless you &

our descendants, yet also our

ancestors with the unpainful

cost of not only believing in

the Lord, but also the great

gift of eternal life! We

love you lots.

Sincerely sigged signed,

(His signature and little brother’s initials)

I must confess to smiling when I received this card. Then later, reading it over the phone to my mother, dissolving into an uncontrollable fit of giggles. He heard and was upset. I had to explain myself.

Amused by his peculiar way of saying things, it struck me as genuinely funny. Yet at the same time I was falling in love with him a little bit more. A moment to treasure. His curious way with words; you never quite know what will tumble from his lips next.

My son has Asperger’s Syndrome. There are times we manage. There are days we are driven mad. Then there are moments, sweet, sweet moments where he blesses us with his quirky personality. Our eyes are opened and we see what a precious gift he truly is.

He is one of a kind. I can not imagine him any other way. He has no shame in what he says. He does not know how to be anything else. So he is authentically himself...

There are two reasons for writing this post.

1. I want to share a little more of my world with you. 

2. There is a lesson here…

We will need to go back in time just a bit. All the way to creation. 

^{Genesis 1:27} So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them. (NIV)

Just ponder on that a moment if you will. We were made in Gods image. The image of the divine creator and owner of all that is. Wow!

Fast forward to our own individual beginnings.

^{Psalm 139:13} For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be. (NIV)

^{Ephesians 2:10} For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (NIV)

God knew what he was doing when he created every one of us. As he dreamt us up there was nothing random about it.  He made me; he made you, on purpose.

It has been said that Asperger’s is not a disability. It is a different-ability. Whether we are on the spectrum or not, I suspect that many of us fall into that category.

We each have something unique to offer the world. Never doubt it.