Follow Up to "What's On My Mind" - our son's healing

I had such an overwhelming response to my last post that I thought I'd do a quick follow up :-)

(thank you, really...)

My son went to the dance.  Well, maybe we should refer to it as "the sit and talk", because that's what he said he did.  And you know?  He *loved* sitting and talking with his beautiful friend.

...yet another thing he struggled to do years ago.  Hold conversations with peers.

In fact, he and I will occasionally joke about the one instance, during social story homework, where his inner sarcasm peeked through.  It nearly caused me to wreck my car with both of us in it.

The story:

When did a mother (who worked a full-time-plus-over-time job, not-to-mention-dragging-MS-around) squeeze a portion of that homework in?  On our 45 min drives home from therapy appts.  I would slide the bottom of the ginormous packet under my thigh, quickly look down at it to read, and send a question his way.  Exhausted...he would process, sometimes longer than others, and present his answer.  We would then discuss whether or not that was the best response.  I recited the following question:

me:  "Can a hot dog be angry?"

:::one miss-i-pp-i...two miss-i-pp-i.................twelve miss-i-pp-i:::

me:  "Bud, did you hear me?  Can. a. hot. dog. be. angry."

him:  "...yes."

What?

I was shocked.  Stunned.  Trying to think of ways to help him understand that hot dogs did not have emotion, though maybe they should?  Who are we to judge?  I stared into my rearview mirror with mind blown wonder...and drove off the road.  But.  Once I got the car back on asphalt, removed my heart from my throat, and regrouped...I mirror checked once more.  I saw his face, pointed out his window toward the beautiful scenery we were blessed with on these appts, and saw something even more beautiful.  His smile.

me:  "so you're kidding?"

him:  "...yes.  What kind of question is that?"

me:  "dude..."

While his struggles are behind him and I give the Lord all praise and glory for every ounce of healing, I can see the abundant blessings that came out of the journey.  The hours he spent with therapists at that facility gave me hours of hermit time in their chapel.  I didn't fit in with the other moms who clipped coupons for hours on end and talked about their homemaking responsibilities.  They just reminded me of who I wasn't, so I went to hang out with my Lord...where I always fit in.  Another blessing is the very close relationship my son and I have.  He will not hesitate to talk through things he is experiencing as a teenager.  To 'check himself', if you will.  He is all the more in tune with the emotions of others.  He is empathetic, nearly to a fault.  Most importantly, he recognizes the Lord's hand in his life.

Some of you have asked what therapies we did that helped.  We had done many, but the program that helped bring about his healing was through The Family Hope Center:

http://www.familyhopecenter.org/

I'm not saying it's quick, easy, or the cure-all for everyone...I'm saying it worked for us.  In addition, certain facets of the program helped restore function to my left side after a particularly evil flare.  Thankfully, help and/or healing come in so many packages and God is the ultimate multi-tasker.
 

The money shot:

And this is the limit:

Be blessed, friends :-)


Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.