You’ve all read on how I talk about what normal is, and how different each person, family, and life is the normal. Today was another test of “Normal” for our family.
Do you enjoy going to the movies with your family? We sure do, and it’s something that isn’t always easy for us to do. With our almost 14-year-old son who has been diagnosed with Autism and Aspergers, it’s sometimes a chore for this simple thing like a movie. The last one he tried to go to ended up with him and his Grandmother leaving half way through Transformers. Since then we have worked on how to handle the stimulation, noise, and working through our sensory issues. That is our normal…
Today, we decided that we would venture off to watch Avengers, one of our favorite’s. With the proper planning this can be successful, and only build up his confidence that he can do anything he puts his mind to.
With the massive noise reducing ear phones, ear plugs, and guidance from mom and dad, we set out for lunch, then off to the theater.
Once we enter the teenager shows up, leaving the kid in the car. Must have seen a cute girl, was the only thing that I came up with as he wanted us to hold his muffs. Yeah, not happening as this is nothing to be embarrassed about. But…. here’s the thing, it is when you get those looks pointed in your direction.
In today’s society you would be shocked on how many people still point, whisper, and wonder what’s wrong with that person. I was brought up to not judge people, we raise our son to not judge people, so why does this still happen? If I had the answer to that, I could solve the worlds problems in a snap of the fingers.
So what do you do while standing in line for popcorn, and you notice the cashier is giving a few strange looks, the person down the way is looking trying to figure out the object. You simply ignore it… It’s taken me a while to figure this out, as now this is normal. This is what we do so we can enjoy a movie as a family.
It’s amazing what you can do when you no longer care about the stares, the whispers, and most of all you have a plan. We are lucky that we’re able to do things like this, and never take them for anything else. With a happy report that we made it all the way through the movie, it was marked down as an accomplishment.
It might be the weirdest one to you, but for my family it was pretty big. Any event that’s going to be loud we prepare for, and have made it through most of them. Now next week if we hit the movies, will it go just as planned? That’s a question I can’t answer, but I can hope for the best as I do with everything else.
So next time, stop yourself from staring and ask yourself if it really bothers you, does it affect the outcome of your day? No, so continue to ring up my drinks, popcorn, and candy and let us enjoy what is our normal.
