The Twists and Turns of Life Give us Stories by Emily Parker

As of recently, my life has taken lots of twists and turns. Some of these turns have been wonderful and some of them have been scary and frustrating. Last year I had the wonderful pleasure of attending school and not working. This was wonderful because it gave me time to focus on school, being as if was my first year back to school in a long time. Even though all the free time was wonderful there were many times in the span of the school year that I missed working.

My passion in life is working with children on the autism spectrum. This has been the center of my world for as long as I can remember. Sometimes it’s aggravating and you feel like pulling out your hair, other times it's the best job ever. This fall, the school I worked at prior to quitting for my own education had an opening that worked with my schedule and still allowed a flexible schedule in order to also be successful at my studies. Being back in the world of autism has been a blessing for the most part. I love the interactions I have with these children.

When a child with autism allows you to enter into their world and interact, it makes you feel as if you have just received a small slice of heaven. When a child who is incredibly unresponsive as far as mimicking finally puts the two together and does it, I feel so happy that I got to experience that moment of a child making sense of this strange and often complex world that the rest of us live in.

I feel like so much of my day is filled with people not being honest about how they feel.  There is no deceit or lies in autism.  You get to hear exactly what they are thinking. This can be hurtful, but at the same time I really appreciate this complete honesty in a world that refuses to tell the truth. Working and going to school is stressful at times but constantly increasing my knowledge and enjoying this beautiful world of realism not only enriches my life, but forces me to be more honest with everyone including myself.

Every experience – good or bad – can make a story.  The trials and tribulations of the world that come my way always tell a story of something I am missing, or something that I need to be educated about.  This how story works in my life.

The image at the top of the post can be found here
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Comments

[Chantel]

Thank you for providing me with such a vivid picture as I read your blog.

[Elizabeth Wunsch]

Amazing how something perceived as difficult can actually be a gift to all, providing recognition of a deeper situation.Truth. Beautiful post.

[Nirit Simon]

I really appreciate what you said about how "there is no deceit or lies in autism." I work with some young adults who are on the autism spectrum, and I find that spending time with them is often my favorite part of the day. I, too, appreciate their guilelessness. It is very refreshing. Perhaps this way of interacting without subterfuge is one of the gifts that autism brings to our world. Thank you for sharing about this.

[TheMiss321]

Great blog Emily. I enjoyed reading about your passion for working with autistic kids. They deserve caregivers like you, that are working for their best interest. Passion is what stood out, and it comes through in your words.

[Myranette Robinson]

Thank you for sharing this on your post. I've never had the experience of this in my life, but I'm learning from this.