In most families, this was not be a big deal. So what if a 15 year old picks out a shirt to wear to school that day and it happens to be black?!?
In our house, it is a series of tiny miracles!
You see....
Miracle #1 - Jared picks out his own clothes to wear to school. I don't have to do this for him. I don't take this for granted. For a young man affected by autism, that spent most of the first 4 years of his life - running in big circles - being able to pick out his own clothes and put them on himself is a huge deal!
Miracle #2 - The shirt he choose was black. For the past three to four years, Jared has only worn shirts with white backgrounds out the house. Why??? Who knows?!? But that is the way it has been. And if we try to get him to wear a different shirt - well, that equals a huge meltdown that can last for hours.
So somewhere along the way, we gave up that fight. And the white shirt wins.
But today, he came out of his room with a black shirt on!
Miracle #3 - Where did the black shirt come from? Since Jared has only worn shirts with white backgrounds for the past several years, we don't really buy any other color shirts anymore. He has one green shirt, that his cousin Cory and his wife Kristen gave Jared for Christmas. He wears that one to bed - but not out of the house. He has his Jogging for Jared shirt which is blue tie-dyed, which he wears each year at the annual 5K Run/Walk for autism.
Other than that - white shirts!
But.... on Saturday, Jared went to a VCU women's basketball game - without mom and dad! He rode down to VCU with Brett and met his new friend/attendant Ryan. Brett left Jared with Ryan since he had to go and meet up with the band for the game.
So Jared and Ryan went to lunch - Subway - where Jared got his famous "Bacon Sandwich" (which means lots of bacon on bread).
Then they went to the VCU women's basketball game! During the game, Jared caught a black VCU tshirt that was thrown into the crowd.
The same black VCU tshirt that he is wearing to school today!
All of this, without mom and dad!
What was very difficult for me - letting him go without me, worrying about how he is doing, worrying about what he was doing ....
was making him more independent....
stronger....
And today, he showed us how he felt about that.....
he wore a back shirt to school!
This is wonderful! I have to imagine that the VCU excursion must have been a really awesome experience for him!
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