My three girls, Megan, Mallory & Marti Sue are away at Camp No Worries this week. It's their second year - an amazing camp for kids with cancer and their siblings. I miss them :(. Although, I do still have Charlie and Matt. Matt is interesting company. He tells me he loves me about 15 times a day, give or take a few times. He asks me to wiggle my ears about 15 times a day, give or take a few times. He points out things that he has pointed out about 100 times before - constantly. The rocking back and forth, the constant self-stimulatory noise. Sometimes it wears on me. Like today...when I am missing my girls and their energy and conversation. And when I have to ask him to stop... he says immediately, "Sorry Mommy." We had three graduation ceremonies in June - Marti, moving up from Elementary to Middle School, Megan & Mallory moving up from Middle School to High School, and Matt moving up from High School to...well...High School. He's 18, but because of his disability- Autism - he will be educated until he's 21. Still, I saw something that I never thought I would ever see - my son, walking at graduation with his class. It was a bittersweet moment. A proud moment...but only three more years of a safety net, of school. We had quite a show that evening - a thunderstorm was in the works, and some beautiful bolts of lightning (although terrifyingly intimidating, especially when you're sitting on metal bleachers) were reaching across the sky. Only a few raindrops fell. As the graduates were being called up two at a time, a gift appeared in the sky - a beautiful full arcing rainbow - and it lingered until after the caps were thrown into the air - and long enough for me to snap a photo. "And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." Genesis 9:16.
What a beautiful gift for us. A promise from our Father in Heaven that everything will be okay. Me: "What do you want for dinner tonight, Matt?" Matt: "French Fries." Charlie's working, so I guess I'll take Matt and Grandmom out to dinner for some french fries. -SMW
