Sweet Charlie

Before Charlie, I had a completely different picture of autism in my head.
The Rain Man, totally self-absorbed and unaware of anyone else picture of autism.

Since Charlie, I have learned that autism doesn't have one picture.
It doesn't have two,
Three,
Ten,
Or one hundred.

Autism looks different for every child.
When you've seen one person with autism,
You've seen just one picture.
But autism itself has an endless number of presentations.

So, my Charlie, it is true that he lives inside his self more than your typical kid.
But it is not true that he is unaware of others.
To the contrary,
Others are a constant puzzle to Charlie.
He wants to make them happy -
He likes to see those smiles
To hear those laughs -
He just doesn't always know how to do it.

So, when he finds something that works,
You better believe he is going to do it over,
And over,
And over.

For days,
Weeks,
Months,
And sometimes years.

This year, Charlie learned about the power of a note.
A simple string of words to make a person feel good.
And now we find them everywhere.

Sure, it may be a fixation.
But this is one fixation that I find endearing and have no intention of quashing.