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Friday, October 8, 2010

Music & Emotions

Relaxing. The house is quiet, everyone else is watching a movie. I'm just enjoying a nice cold glass of sangria and listening to my rather strange collection of mp3s. Every song seems to remind me of something. Not generic somethings, specific memories. I'll be singing along and start laughing uncontrollably or blubbering like a moron. Music is very emotional for me. Its much the same way for Dragon, actually.

When he needs an escape from the world, when its all just too much and he needs to sort of reboot he will put on his headphones and my iPod and listen to his playlist. Mostly that means we get to sit around and listen to him sing Taylor Swift or Johnny Cash songs until he's feeling more balanced. Its an amazing tool he's discovered. He can tolerate any noisy insane environment so long as he has the iPod available if he needs to take a break. And its not just that it makes things tolerable. It makes things so that he can be on the verge of exploding, spend 15 or 20 minutes in his own world and its as though he was never upset. Not every Aspie is fortunate enough to find something so easy that works so completely for them. I've always enjoyed music. Its always been a part of my life (I was even a band geek in highschool!) but seeing the difference it can make in my son's life has given me an entirely different appreciation for music and those who create it.

To see him go from being limited to short outings, having to leave family events early and now be able to spend entire days out and about becoming closer to relatives and just enjoying things more has been nothing short of amazing. Major holidays used to go like this: drive 40 minutes to Grandpa's house. Spend 20 minutes visiting. Sit down and eat. Visit/play for at most an hour. Apologies‘, try to explain and head home having spent as much time there as we spend driving. This last visit we spent nearly 5 hours visiting. He played with his Aunt (who is only 2 years older than him), visited Grandpa's animals, rode 4-wheelers. It was amazing. He was thriving. Sure he had to take several breaks. But he was able to do it. He's an amazing kid and its just the sort of thing a mother needs to keep her positive and hopeful that the future really is as bright as we want it to be.

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