It had been an exhausting week off from school with my 13 year old.
More like an 8 year old, Jimmy's autism often propels him to make poor and/or odd decisions. And this week I'd had one bad decision after another. From finding dozens of hoarded batteries in his drawer to burying cans of soup in the backyard, on to locking my keys in my trunk in the Costco parking lot (after shopping, not before, of course, and with the trunk-popper lock broken, of course!) and cutting up his shoelaces and pillow cases, I have to be hypervigilant every second.
But once in a while Jimmy has amazing insight. He can come out with a beautifully pure and profound observation, inconsistent with his often random disjointed chatter. And it's often just the kind of thing I need a reminder of.
He's been making a wood project in an after school club. He'd planned to give it to his older brother for his dorm room but his brother doesn't have the space for it. So Jimmy asked me if my office, a crisis pregnancy center, could use it. Sure, I said...we can use it for papers for for donated baby items. He was thrilled.
This morning as we're rushing around getting his teeth brushed and backpack ready for school, he goes, "I can 'encarve' the wood, every life has a destiny." I was impatient and selfishly annoyed. His leg brace wasn't on yet, he needed help in the shower, I just laid out $250 to a locksmith, there were dozens of open and discarded band aids all over his room (one of his obsessions), I'd been awaken again several times during the night to hear his loud rocking and moaning, he had no idea where he left his coat yesterday, the third one lost recently. "That makes NO sense!" I snapped. "WHAT wood?? And what the heck does 'encarve' mean??" "The shelf. I'm making a shelf. The Life Center. Every Life has a Destiny. I can put that on the wood. Is that a good idea?"
Wow. Stopped me in my tracks. A reminder when I needed it. Yes, Jimmy, that's a good idea. Every Life has a Destiny.
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