Keeping Promises

Chaz was chosen amongst a few others to represent his school in a field day with other schools.  Wow!  He just couldn't believe it.  I'm so proud of Chaz.  Out of all the kids, my Aspergers son was picked. That means he's been participating well in school and really trying.

It was on Saturday and since Chaz said the bus would be coming by our house to pick him up, I was in no rush Friday night to go to bed early.  In fact, I was having fun doing some research and listening to music.  Before I knew it, it was 4:30am.  I was exhausted but happy to have that quiet time.  We had everything set out for Chaz to get on the bus by 7am.  I wake up in the morning and as I reread the paper, the bus wasn't coming to our house. We were supposed to meet the bus at the school that is kind of far.  Chaz and I had both misunderstood.  Not only that, it was too late to meet the bus.  It already left.  Chaz was in tears and his heart looked so broken.  It was an hour drive away to where the event was held and by the time I could call the coach, the were already signing in.  It was a long drive but I couldn't see letting Chaz down like that.  At this point, I didn't care about the inconvenience.  We told our family of 8 to pack up, we were heading out!  It's not easy getting a big family ready and it takes a bit of time.  Chaz was pacing back and forth the whole time worried he was gonna miss events. I headed out on 2 hours of sleep but just loaded up on some coffee on the way.  By the time we got there, he missed an event but was gonna be there all day so he was very happy to still make it.

Some people would say, "Oh, he's just a kid, he'll get over it." or "They'll be other times."  But it's more than that.  When someone has an achievement and it's thrown down like it doesn't matter, in the future they might think, "What does it matter any way?  It's not important to them.  Why should I try?"

I know it was just a mistake on my part.  But I wanted him to know he's not an inconvenience to me.  When a kid gets their heart set on something, it's hard to get over.

BUT....

When an Aspergers kid gets their heart set on something and they've been pacing, hand wringing, talking about it almost every waking moment, setting out their clothes 3 days in advance.... can you imagine why there would be a flowing of tears?  When you're constantly mocked, called a freak, have little or no friends... being told you're gonna go and represent your school and you've been chosen out of all the other kids, it's a BIG DEAL.

Seeing him run out on that field and happily go to the first event made my heart smile.  I kept my promise and my boy knows he matters.  I love that boy.

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