Write? Why?

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

I have been badly neglecting this blog lately so I thought I would post a “refresher” for those who may be new here and to my Facebook page.

Why do I write?

I never really intended to write a blog. My blogging began one day when I was writing an extremely long response to a blog post that I had just finished reading. After I hit “post” I decided that writing a response to this post on someone else’s blog was not going to make me feel better about the topic being discussed. I opened an account, copied and pasted that very long comment, on to a page and started my blog.

I was so worried that I would never have enough to say to sustain a blog, but I went for it anyway. It turns out that I did have a lot to say. I don’t know how many people care to hear what I have to say, but I say it anyway.

“I tell stories, most of the time; single individual stories about this or that. Some may be written with humor and some may come across as “Oh, look at the cute thing DC did or said” (he does crack me up at times) but my object is always to make people understand how his mind works.”

It is difficult to explain “his” autism to anyone without resorting to 1000 examples and 1000 stories. So I tell 1000 stories to make clear that there are other sides to autism than the characters seen in TV or movies.

I read many blogs as well. Many of the blogs that I do come across are written by parents of younger children. Most are wonderful and very informative. There are many that I absolutely love, but I always feel that the parents of adult children do not have an equal voice in this community. We are cast aside, or worse, berated. I am not in any way saying my blog is the voice of parents with adult children, but I am ONE voice and ONE opinion in a sea of blogs and opinions that do not seem to make room for the parents that have been at it for many years now.

I was very tired of being preached at and constantly being told how to feel by those who have not reached this point in their child’s life. I understand where they are coming from and in turn I believe they can or should try to understand where I am coming from. Whatever else you might have to say about me, I have done a good job of raising DC. Of course there was help along the way but as a single mother going on 26 years now, most of it fell to me alone. I truly resent the fact that we, as parents are being made to feel as if after all these years, we’ve got it all wrong. I know that there are instances where we did have it wrong. When DC was young, there was not any where near the information and services that are available today. (See: Autism In the Old Days)

I hope that a little insight into what comes after “school age” may go a long way in getting people to stop and think before making blanket decisions, accusations and statements that may not affect their child the same way it will affect mine. There has got to be some give and take. Everything does not work for every one.

Having said that, I have learned quite a bit from other parents by virtue of my blog. I don’t always agree with every opinion and my readers, I’m sure, do not always agree with me, but I truly believe writing this blog and getting some of the feedback has helped me see some issues a bit differently or at least why some parents see things the way they do. I can only hope I can and will be afforded the same courtesy; and so far I have.

Life tends to be very different when your child “ages out” of the school system and at other times, it is exactly the same. When you are waist deep in school, therapies, programs and IEPs, what happens after 21 is not high on your priority list. Of course it is a priority and of course it is in the back of your mind but, the here and now takes precedence. There are so many new and different issues to consider, and it all comes to hit you in the face much faster than you expect. Your views and opinions can change dramatically from what you hoped for when they were young and what you hope for now. Your life changes drastically, while not changing at all.

In an earlier blog I wrote:

“If I were to live forever, I would not change a thing about my son. He’s happy almost all of the time. He loves his life. He is in his own little happy world, but he won’t always be able to live in his own world, he will someday have to live in the real world. Then what?”

He will, someday have to live in the real world without me, which will probably mean a group home, because he is going to out life all of the adults I have in place to take care of him when I am gone. We need better programs, more funding for those programs and we need to have trained people working with our children in those programs. The news reports of the abuse and neglect of adults and children with autism by the people who are paid and supposed to be supporting our kids will keep you awake all night, every night.

So I will keep writing with the hope that a few people might read and think a little bit about the future. I would never say that spreading awareness is not a good idea, it IS definitely necessary, but…..

all of the awareness in the world is not going to keep DC safe and happy when I am no longer here to protect him…..

**********

A re-post from Take Another Step for #FinishTheSentenceFriday back in October 2017 that was a partial re-post from 2014 Just who is this DC that you speak of

Communication and Deciphering DC

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

DC’s way of communicating is oftentimes mentioning a tiny detail that no one at the time found important (but it was important to him).

It is my job to go back in my memory to see if I can remember anything that might connect to what he is trying to tell me.

This one, turned out was not as difficult as some but it took some thinking and questioning. Knowing that too much questioning will shut him down, I had to do my questioning in limited doses.

Trust me….. no one called him a “jerk”. He made that connection all by himself – which is actually pretty impressive.

I posted this conversation on my facebook page in November:

DC was going over his Thanksgiving Weekend Schedule (as we have done daily over the last week).

He was very excited about everything we have planned.

While describing and jogging his memory of the Holiday Stroll from last year that we’d be attending again this year, DC jumped in with…

“I don’t want to be a jerk”

(I’ve never heard him use that word and I didn’t even know he knew the word until today)

Me: What do you mean?
DC: I’m sorry to the people.
Me: What people? When were you a jerk?
DC: At the fire. I’m sorry to the people – jerk like Gaston.
Me: Did someone say that to you?
DC: I’m sorry to the people at the fire.

He does not seem upset at all, just stating facts and still excited about the weekend.
This is going to take a lot of thinking to decipher. I think I have to concentrate on the times he’s been around a bonfire and work from there.#Communication

*****

I will confess that I laughed for an entire day about the “jerk” comment.

Later, I asked him again about the “people at the fire”.

He said: I’m sorry to the people.

Me: What people?

DC: Fire……. Hurt Mom’s feelings.

I had a little glimmer of a memory.

I vaguely remembered that we had gone on the North Pole Express before going to the “Holiday Stroll”. By the time we arrived at the stroll, DC was a “little bit” agitated because …… Arrival Anxiety AND he wanted dinner. Even though we went directly to a restaurant, his agitation was already in full gear. I remember that he said something mean to me – I don’t even remember what it was, but as soon as he said it, he knew that he had hurt my feelings and the “apology tour” began.

This explained “Hurt Mom’s Feelings” but not the fire and “The People”. I was thinking that maybe there was a fireplace in the restaurant? But who were “the people”?

After thinking about it for a while, it all came back to me. He was talking about and combining two different incidents on the same night.

After we left the restaurant, we walked up the street and waited in line for the horse and carriage ride (it was a long wait). After the ride we continued on the stroll where he saw Santa outside of the ice cream store and next, outside of the bank, a musical trio of girls that could not have been more than 14 years old. We stopped to listen for a minute – only a minute because DC decided he would announce loudly, while blocking his ears (while standing only 10 feet from the girls) ……

“No! Stop Music! Want to Go. Stop Playing”

Yes, it was a long day, yes, I got it. I knew it was not about him not liking the way they were playing but I would have to assume that the girls would have no reason to think that it wasn’t about the way they were playing. And, yes there was a bonfire.

bonfire

So listen, DC has autism and I understand his reactions BUT everything he does is not because of his autism. I know the difference between him having a hard time because of autism and him manipulating the situation to get what he wants.

We left that area and continued on our way down the sidewalk toward the green for the tree-lighting. I took that opportunity to explain to him that he acted rudely and those girls probably thought that he did not like their playing.

<Insert> Another “Apology Tour”

Having figured all of this out, I asked him where he heard the word “jerk” because I would have expected him to have said “rude” because that was the word I used at the time. Knowing that new words often come from movies that he’s seen, I was not all that surprised when he answered:

“A Christmas Story Live”

Not that “jerk” is a word I would have taught him, or would like him to continue using, BUT it is impressive that he took a word he heard in A Christmas Story Live, related it to Gaston from Beauty and the Beast and THEN related it to his own actions that night.

After laughing to myself all day, I did explain that he was not a “jerk” and that it was not really a nice word to use.

Now…… if anyone can help with this one, I would be eternally grateful: Snowvee, Miss Snap, Teacher, Good Time ….. Anyone?

*****

This has been a Finish The Sentence Friday Free-For-All – “share a photo and the story behind it” post, or with a 2018 review, or anything else…… Free For All.

Finish The Sentence Friday – hosted by Kenya at Sporadically Yours and Kristi at Finding Ninee

Supernatural – I wish I was able to hear that Conversation #SPNNJ

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

This week the Finish The Sentence Friday prompt is a Listicle – “Share 10 photos from your phone”. There could not have been more perfect timing.

As you may or may not remember, I lost all of the photos that were stored on my computer a few weeks ago. The computer went to the “computer guy” just before we went away for the weekend. It took much longer to get it back (with some of the photos recovered) than I expected, so all of my photos from that weekend are still on my phone waiting for a computer to download them on to, so I could write about the weekend as I do with every Convention, ComicCon or the like that we attend. They were already cropped and cartoonized (not a word, I know) and ready to go.

So here goes.

As you also may or may not know; DC loves New York City. He also loves Kim Rhodes. He met her last year at the same convention in NJ that we would be attending this weekend and I believe it was the highlight of his year (Let’s Talk About Kim Rhodes #SPNNJ)

As we did last year, we decided to take the weekend to go to New York City on Friday to do “DC-Stuff”, as he puts it, go to the convention on Saturday and back to New York for more “DC-Stuff” on Sunday.

Photo #1 (since this IS Supposed to be a “list)

“DC-stuff” means Times Square, The Disney Store, The M&M or Hershey Store (he chose Hershey this time), The Book Store and Lunch at Hard Rock. We accomplished that on Friday.

The hotel where we were staying was in NJ, within walking distance of the convention center.

Photo # 2

He started getting a little bit anxious at the hotel. He was done “of” walking (DC-Speak) but also excited about the next day. But this is normal for him. He “Flapped Furiously” for a while and got it out of his system.

Photo #3

Because I have learned much over the years, we had to go over the rules. Briana Buckmaster has beautiful long flowing blonde hair so he had to promise not to touch it (he would be reminded again the next day, but it never hurts to begin the reminding early) and of course, he is not allowed to “pick up the people” (a lesson I learned the hard way)

Saturday came and DC did a <insert sarcasm font> “little bit” of stimming outside the hotel (I’m sure it is on you-tube somewhere) and once he got himself together we walked over to the convention center.

He had his picture taken with Ruth Connell who had her hair up, luckily – but before he got anywhere near her, he was made to listen to the rules again – just to be on the safe side.

Photo #4

We sat in on the panel with all of the women characters where he got his first glimpse of Kim Rhodes. I had purchased autograph tickets for Kim Rhodes and I thought Briana Buckmaster because DC really wanted to say or hear her say “Okey Dokey” or in DC-speak “Ok-kiddy-Do-key” but #MomFail, I did not buy both. I don’t know what I was thinking. But he got to see Kim Rhodes, so he was sort-of okay with my error.

In line, waiting for the autographs, DC was, for some reason rehearsing “This is my mother, Vickie *LastName”, but when we reached the table and Kim asked him who I was he just said “Vickie” – not his mother – just Vickie.

Onward to the photo ops.

Photo #5

First ….. Kim Rhodes. The ‘Boy” is very happy, in case that isn’t 100% obvious.

Photo #6

Even though I failed with the autograph tickets, I did get a photo-op ticket for Kim and Briana Buckmaster together. Briana had her hair up too, so she was safe from DC the Hairdresser. He was thrilled, as you can see. I did not hear if he was able to give her an “Ok-kiddy-Do-key” and if she would even understand what he was saying if he did, but he was one happy guy. He wore his “Jody (Kim Rhodes) and Donna (Briana Buckmaster) shirt very proudly that day.

Once photos are taken, it is a good amount of time before they are printed and put out on a table in the vendor room. We only had one more photo-op to go before we were going to leave, have dinner and go back to the room for a break before we came back for the concert at 930. I try not to schedule anything after 3 or 4 so we have that time to take a break before the concert. It’s a long day for DC. Doug checked the photo table while we were in line for Misha Collins.

The last photo-op of the day and I have to say, my favorite photo of all time.

Photo-ops move quickly and there is not really any time at all to say more than “hello”. I was standing off to the side and saw that Misha Collins was taking to DC and DC was answering. I do not know if he was getting actual answers to the questions he was asking but I could see that DC seemed to be responding to whatever he was saying. It was more than a quick “Hello, what is you name”.

Whatever they were talking about; the conversation led to this photo.

Photo #7

Absolutely the

Best . Photo . Ever.

Let me also point out that DC TOOK HIS GLASSES OFF for the photo! That does not happen.

I did not see the photo until after we left and had dinner. We were able to get the first two photos before we left he convention center. We stopped at Outback on the way back to the hotel. After dinner Doug volunteered to go back to the convention center to check for the photo while DC and I went back to the hotel.

DC and I were sitting at a table outside the hotel when I saw Doug coming down the road with the photo, laughing. I don’t know if he laughed all the way from the convention center (I would have) but he was sure laughing on the way to the table.

Best picture ever.

It makes me really want to know what they were talking about before it was taken.

After our break, we went back for the Saturday Night Special (the concert) where DC got to hear them all sing.

Photo #8

Photo #9

Photo #10

Photo #11 (Bonus)

The concert ended with Justin Guarini. I am not sure why he was there, but……. cool. It was also a bonus for Doug because if you know Doug at all, you know that he has no idea who anyone on TV or in the movies is, but he did know who Justin Guarini was, not from American Idol but from American Idiot – one of the few Broadway shows that I dragged him to that he actually enjoyed.

A few things I noticed, though. We’ve been to a few conventions over the years and this one is one of the most organized conventions around, without a doubt.

DC had a few minor meltdowns while we were there. No one stared, no one made an issue about it. One lady was concerned and asked me if he was all right. I started to explain that he has autism and he gets a little bit anxious and before I got that all out of my mouth, she said “Oh, I know. Does he need anything?”

During another outburst, the woman behind us in line did not even flinch and offered us some granola bars in case he was hungry.

I guess I am not used to people knowing and understanding without me having to explain. It was nice. Maybe the whole “awareness thing” is doing some good in some places. It certainly was not the case when he was stimming outside the hotel that morning.

Sunday consisted of sleeping late; as late as DC would allow and back to the City for the rest of the “DC-stuff” on his list.

Central Park

and the Eloise Store at the Plaza

****

This has been a Finish The Sentence Friday Post. This week is a Listicle and the prompt; Share 10 photos from your phone.
Finish The Sentence Friday is hosted by: Kristi at Finding Ninee and Kenya at Sporadically Yours

As Summer Moves Into Fall

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

Never could I have ever imagined when I was younger, that I would at some point be counting the days until summer was over.

Summer was ALWAYS my season.

We were on the beach by the end of March or early April (maybe in not so warm conditions, but we were there) and perfectly tanned by the end of April. A co-worker and co-sun worshipper used to say:

“You realize, by the time we are 40, we are going to be nothing but leather and teeth”. When you are in your 20’s you really could care less or think about what you will look like in your 40’s.

As I got older – still worshiping the sun, I did take better care to use sunscreen.

The heat never bothered me. I could walk for miles in any kind of heat and it was never a big deal. I remember on one of my marathon walks, during a heatwave more than one person stopping me to tell me that it was just too hot to be out walking. It never bothered me.

DC always loved to swim.

All vacation destinations were somewhere warm and beachy.

Fall/Autumn meant Halloween (a good thing) but other than that, only meant that winter was on the way.

It’s amazing how things have changed.

My Listicle about the changing of the seasons is a bit different from what it would have been even 5 years ago:

DC who is more and more annoyed with the Air Conditioner (“Hair-dish-on”) over the past few years, is getting antsy for it to come out.
DC, who works outdoors and in a greenhouse is at the end of his rope with the morning bug spray and sunscreen application.
DC, who hates to wear shorts, is already getting anxious to have his long pants back (It is still HOT here so that will not be happening soon)
DC decided he did not love the water as much as he used to.
Mid-August through the end of September have been difficult for DC over the past few years because of all of the above and because there is a limit to just how much he can take of all of the above.
Fall is now MY Season. Once it cools down a bit, I might just venture outside once in a while.
I wish the Autumn season was a little bit longer. I feel as if we are losing it as we have lost any resemblance of Spring over the last few years. The weather goes from Cold to Hot and really not too much “Spring” in-between. Summer seems to go on much longer than it did and is really starting to taking a bite out of the Fall season.
Our favorite “holiday” comes in the Fall – the one thing that has not changed over the years.
We try to schedule vacations now, closer to home and with no beaches involved.
I am no longer “One with the Heat”.

*************

This is a Listicle Friday post. It’s the Week 2, of the old school blogging, prompt for the Finish the Sentence Friday writing community where I’m co-hosting with Kristi Campbell of Finding Ninee. This week we are sharing “10 things about the changing of the seasons”.

The Couch; Another Round

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

A couple of weeks ago on the 4th, my neighbors decided to blow off “cannons” right under our window………It went on for hours.

Now, DC really does not mind fireworks when he is expecting them. It’s the fireworks that begin two weeks before and continue on for a month after the 4th that bother him. Being a guy who is terrified of storms, hearing these random fireworks does not go over all that well. Even on the 4th when he should be expecting them, he certainly is not agreeable to the noise when it sounds like a cannon is going off directly under our window.

Due to the my neighbors and a couple of pretty good storms over the last few weeks, we have been sleeping on the couch.

When DC was young, he would come into my room when there was a storm and he was afraid. This did not mean he would calm down but once he tired of repeating the same few phrases over and over again, he would finally fall asleep.

He is 27 now (chronologically) and it is no longer appropriate for him to come and sleep in my room. He does not understand this because in his mind, the storms are just as scary as they were when he was young and quite honestly, developmentally, he is just as young as he was then. There is no good way to explain this to him.

So…… now during storms or when he hears a loud noise that might be a storm or fireworks or a truck driving by or a plane flying over head…… we sleep on the couch.

I have a sectional.

He sleeps on the chaise lounge (the bottom of the L) and I sleep on the straight part.

I am old. Everything hurts after sleeping on the couch for more than a few days.

It is not always easy to get him back to his room and into his bed, especially at this time of year when the storms just seem to keep on coming. It doesn’t even need to be a storm – clouds, dark skies, rain or anything that puts the notion of a storm in his head is enough to send us “to the couches”.

Our last round of couch-sleeping lasted more than 2 years. I am hoping this round does not last anywhere near that long.

It’s only been two weeks but I am tired.

It’s only been two weeks but I am afraid that there are plenty more storms ahead. ‘Tis the season.

It’s only been two weeks but I can already tell that it is going to be a very long summer.

It’s only been two weeks but……….. I miss my bed.

***

Ahhh, but there is always a little bit of a bright side – FB Status – July 17, 2018)

Between looking out the door and repeating “Storm is over soon, Storm go away, I am brave, Storm is over soon……” DC kept coming into the room with his hands in prayer position, bowing and saying “Yay! We Must Stay”. I just assumed it was more drama about the storm but I’d never heard him say this before so I asked him (thinking it must be a movie line) where this was from…..
DC: Yoga Class
(I’ll give you a minute….. 😂😂😂😂😂)

*********

This has been a Finish the Sentence Friday 5-minute stream-of-consciousness post about “My Bed” hosted by Kristi Campbell of Finding Ninee and Kenya G. Johnson of Sporadically Yours

Halloween Is Our Thing – #FinishTheSentenceFriday

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

Halloween.

I have been an avid fan for as long as I can remember. If I am honest I am sure that some of my love for the “holiday” comes from me being able to be someone other than myself. I am sure this was the case when I was a kid and I think a little bit of that feeling of not having to be me for one night has carried over into adulthood.

My first costume memories were those old boxed costumes that were made up of a plastic smock imprinted with the image of a gown, dress, uniform or suit and the dreaded mask that seemed to look the same for every character. We just thought we were “all that” while parading around in one of those costumes.

Although the description on the box always said it contained a “ventilated mask”, I remember never really being able to breathe and/or the mask filling up with hot air and my face sweating profusely. The eyes never seemed to be positioned so that one could actually see and the jagged edges where the eye holes were cut out would dig into the corners of your eye. The flimsy elastic band that was supposed to hold the mask around your head would, without fail, snap halfway through trick-or treating and you would end up holding the mask in front of your face for the rest of your trick-or-treat adventure.

But still, we loved those costumes. My favorite was always Cinderella or a just a generic princess.

Photo Attribute: By Tim1965 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Photo Attribution – See Below

There was a point in time when I really began to hate these “costumes” especially when I started to notice other kids wearing all different kinds of costumes; they weren’t plastic smocks – they looked like real articles of clothing. There was no longer the parade of boxed costumes everywhere and some of these newfangled costumes did not even have a mask! Gasp! What was this sorcery?

But in our house, if we couldn’t find or put together a costume from articles of clothing or items that we already had, the boxed costume was the only other option. It would be a few years before I was able to partake.

****

When I finally graduated out of the boxed costume, I remember a gown. I know it was not purchased for me to wear as a costume (we did not do that, remember?). I think it was my mother’s. I do not remember why she had it. She may have been in a play or something when she was younger, but I was in heaven! Heaven!

I remember that gown like it was yesterday. It was a peachy/pink color and lacy and I am sure in reality did not look as gorgeous as it did in my head but I sure did believe that I was just the living end when I wore that gown.

I don’t have any photos of that gown or of me wearing it. Halloween was not a big deal to my parents so the family Halloween photo was never a thing when I was younger. I do believe that there may be the random Halloween family photo of my younger brothers, but I have never seen any of me or my next in age brother.

I wore that gown for years. After dragging it across sidewalks and catching it on my shoes, tree branches, shrubs or anything else I would happen to walk by on my trick-or-treat route, it looked a little bit worse for wear. But still I continued to wear it since I was not going to get a store bought costume and was too big (and too cool, of course) for the plastic boxed costumes. I suppose that I could have gone the “hobo/bum” route that my brothers took every . single . year, because one could do that easily with stuff we already had laying around – a flannel shirt, a stick with the kerchief, a little dirt to your face and ….voila – a Hobo.

But I always wanted to be pretty and wearing the princess gown and maybe even some makeup always made me feel pretty. I loved Halloween because I got to feel pretty for that night. To this day, Halloween is the only day of the year that I wear lipstick – if the costume calls for it, of course.

****

I was around 11 or 12 when I decided that I was just too cool for trick-or-treating and costumes. That decision was largely based on the fact that my friends did not think it cool any more. That happened to be the same year that Halloween was just about cancelled. There had been a growing epidemic over the past few Halloween’s of razor blades in apples, laxatives disguised as chocolate, and so many other evils, that many people (at least in our area) did not let their children go out for trick-or-treat at all. Back in those days there were no safe Halloween trick-or-treat parties at firehouses or held by civic organizations as there are today. Halloween was trick-or-treating or nothing. I remember our doorbell ringing only once and my mother being shocked that it rang at all.

Even though Halloween was about over for me; because…. being too cool and all – I was sad thinking that this might very well be the end of it for everyone. Fortunately that did not turn out to be the case and things got right back to normal the following year.

****

Fast forward to my 20’s when I discovered that Halloween was not over for me at all! There were parties. Parties with costumes. It was in my 20’s when I honed the skill of using powder eye shadow on my face instead of the gloppy pasty stuff they sold for Halloween face color. I came up with some pretty good costume ideas but more often than not, I got so involved in helping my friends come up with and put together their costumes that my ideas ended up being thrown together at the last minute. They still came out relatively well, but they did not look like what I originally had pictured in my head. I was the Halloween Costume Queen…. but for every one else, not always for me.

****

Then came Halloween at work. Back in the raggedy princess gown days I would never have imagined that I would still be celebrating Halloween after the age of 12 or 13 and certainly not at the office.

I will admit to being just a tad “high pressure” when it comes to Halloween…. but really – If everyone would just follow directions, fall in line and embrace the theme (there must always be a theme), it would all go so much more smoothly…..

but seriously…

no pressure.

No pressure at all.

****

When DC was born I had happy visions of walking the neighborhood with him just like when I was a kid. I managed to control myself on his first Halloween as he was less than a year old and went with the standard baby pumpkin costume.

1991

The following year we all dressed in Star Trek attire – which was also not over the top for him; he just had to wear a shirt. The next year I started to try to add to the costumes (makeup, hair color) just to see how far he would let me go costume-wise.

1993 Vampires

Let’s just say, it did not go well. He did it; but getting everything on him was not fun and I had to give up on much of the make-up and hair color spray. Once on, he did all right, but I knew I had to rein it in next year. Fortunately I did not scar him for life about Halloween.

When he was 4 I started noticing that Disney costumes were becoming more available we were able to find a Peter Pan – one of his favorites at the time. This is where we turned a corner and right there…. he was sold….

1994

He was just thrilled to realize that he could be any Disney character that he wanted to be; and he has been quite a few over the years. Of course, I would always dress right along with him and our costumes were/are always compatible.

When he got older I began noticing that he was having a hard time choosing between all of the characters available and since there were now parties to attend as well – I let him start picking out a few different costumes for the parties. Now…. you might say that we have gotten carried away or that I am spoiling him but, the list of things and activities that DC really cares about is limited, so if he loves Halloween and costumes; I am going to do what I can to see that he has a great time with it. Maybe, just maybe, having to wear that same ragged princess dress year after year plays into it a bit – maybe just a tad.

But I will tell you, for a kid who has to have tags cut out of everything and many other sensory issues, he will do and wear just about anything when it comes to Halloween – make-up, wigs, bald caps glued to his head or scars glued on to his face, eyebrows, mustaches and just about anything but a mask. I can’t say that I blame him there.

His party costumes are all about him. Our Halloween night costumes are all about us (more so now than when he was younger). They are about things that both of us enjoy. There have been plenty of times that no one knew who or what we were or I wasn’t as hilariously clever as I thought I was, but we do not care. We know who we are and we have fun.

He is 26 now. I never imagined Halloween would still be thrill for him and I love that it is something that we can go all out and overboard about together…. I hope he never tires of it.

We have already been to two parties so far this season and are looking forward to a few more before Halloween night rolls around. As he walked in to the dance held by his work/day program last week, one of the staff said to me: “Look at him just walking in to the party with all of that on, looking so comfortable like he is wearing his regular every day clothes.”

Yep, that’s my “boy”…….

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Be sure to visit our Halloween Page: We Love Halloween! We love it so much, we gave it it’s own page.

I am honored to co-host Finish the Sentence Friday this week with host Kristi Campbell of Finding Ninee . The prompt this week – “When it comes to Halloween….”

Link up or just read some of the Halloween offerings at the blue button below… (link is open for posting through Sunday evening)

Finish the Sentence Friday is a link-up where writers and bloggers come together to share their themselves with a particular sentence. If you’d like to stay ahead of future sentences and participate, join our Facebook group. Link up your sentence prompts below! Please no “link dumping.” If you include a link, comment on other posts.