"WHY DOESN'T HE UNDERSTAND!!?!?!?!?!??!!"
We recently had some very dear friends fly from the eastern side if the USA to spend 5 days with us. We had a marvelous time complete with campfire, 2 days snow skiing, horseback riding, a night at a fun hotel with indoor pool and just hours of kiddos playing! Our friends have two kiddos, a third grade daughter and a first grade son. They are such fun, kind kiddos, and we cherish having time to really get to know the kids finally! We knew the parents from Grouchy's days of flying F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets in the navy and have stayed in pretty close touch over the past 14 or so years. Beautiful people!!
The day they arrived, Garrett and their boy, who is a year older than Garrett, began to play. Well, it was more like the friend playing with Garrett's things and Garrett following him around chatting his ears off all the while! But an interesting thing happened. Both boys got their Nintendo DSi games out and sat together in Grouchy's recliner and played. I was marveling at how "normal" a sight it was to see Garrett just quietly sitting and interacting with a pal. At one point, they decided to play "versus," or put the same game in each DSi and choose to race cars against each other but both be able to see it. Garrett agreed, but I knew he probably didn't know what on earth it meant and like he does with the Wii, would NOT want to compete against anyone. Don't know why, but it's just that way with him. The other boy was so kind to try to show Garrett how to set it all up, and they got ready to play, but Garrett freaked out a bit and just decided he didn't want to play "versus." The other boy tried to explain, encourage and mmotivate Garrett to play, but Garrett just turned off his good attitude and quit trying. At this point, Garrett's friend jumps up out of the recliner, stands to face Garrett and starts screaming, "WHY DOESN'T HE UNDERSTAND......AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Then the child takes off running away from the recliner and down our hall into Garrett's room, screaming in frustration all the while. Of course his amazing mom sprints back to talk to him to try to explain how to handle Garrett. And while maybe I should have found myself feeling bad for Garrett having a pal scream at him, I didn't feel like that at all! Instead, I stood in the kitchen in awe of the situation, a smile beginning to come across my face as I realized that Grouchy and I feel JUST LIKE THAT soooooooo many times daily when it comes to all things Garrett. Bad thing is that while it is okay for a first grader to react to Garrett like he did, it ISN'T okay for Grouchy and me to show how we REALLY feel!!!! I shared this with the boy's mom, and she was worried about Garrett and so kind to him and to me. I may have caught her off guard when I told her that her son said what I am usually thinking but cannot! And I meant it!!! Our friends had briefed both of their sweet kiddos on dealing with Garrett, but you cannot expect a normal elementary age child to really be able to tolerate things that are so darn weird every minute!!! The little boy was so kind to share so willingly with Garrett. They took turns on 4-wheelers and did enjoy some play time together. But this moment will never leave my memory as I see glimpses of the insanity through others' eyes!
I guess it all boils down to the hard part of being the grown-up. It's having to save face, be the example, increase tolerance.....for us anyway. Absent are the days where we can have a kid over to play with Garrett and not have to explain the exceptions we have to make or the reasons there is no reason in Garrett's dealings sometimes.....many times. It has to be hard for other children, but then again, maybe not. At least they can express their bubbling-over of emotion verbally and let the frunstation flow. I guess you all let me do that here, so I need to be thankful!!
Lots going on here, but off to do my nightly reading of the Bible as I picked up an awesome Bible designed to be read over the course of a year. I have always wanted to do this, but finally bought a Bible organized for this purpose and made myself stop everything else and focus on God's word every evening.
Many fun things to blog about soon, but not tonight. PLEASE pray for my online friend Debbie and her children, especially Hudson, who has Mito and recently started the experimental miracle drug. And the day he started it, his daddy, passed away. I sometimes wonder if this life can be anymore cruel. But then I try to keep remembering.....It isn't about THIS life.......
Godspeed,
Clara-Leigh
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