my heart goes out to connecticut

I was going to start a "whatcha gettin for Christmas" thread, but decided to write one more on the situation that took place in Connecticut last week.

It hits home with me on a couple fronts. 1. I'm divorced, and my ex is a bit loony and is training my kids to be a bit loony too. and 2. my son has aspergers.

Not much i can do about my loony ex. But my son? If you've never met a child with aspergers, then your first impression of them would be that they are heartless or emotionless. Both of these would be wrong assessments. My son does have a heart and does have emotions, he just has a MUCH different way of showing them. So teasing him or making fun of him hurts just as it would any other child, he just would not show his reaction in the same way.

He is in an awesome school that helps him in every way possible - i've met his teachers and other support staff and they really do try to help him out - they go way above the call of duty for him - and it shows. He is getting great grades and getting close to having a couple friends that can put up with his "oddness".

I bring this up on the odd chance that any of you meet a child with aspergers. They may seem to be the most rude, untactful obnoxious person you ever met. But they also can be one of the most engaging, smart people you'll ever meet. (my son is off the charts bright in Math as an example - I love giving him odd math problems and having him figure them out super quickly in his head) Have patience and see if you can get through the rudeness to the engaging part. They'll usually only be able to stay focused on you for 5 minutes anyway, so breath deep and dive in. Parents such as myself totally appreciate it!

My son knows he's different and seems to not care that people avoid him, but I know he doesn't really like it and would love to have tons of friends like he sees other people have. He and I don't always see eye to eye on everything, but the one thing that keeps him from avoiding me is that he knows I will always be there no matter what. I'm one of the only ones that will always put up with his uniqueness.