Unique, Interesting and Mysterious

These two pictures show a bruise on my arm. Yes, I know; the pictures also show wrinkles, freckles, moles and FAT. Those aren't the reason for the post, though. The bruises are.

Mom's arm looks even worse.

There's a story behind these. They are about a week old. Last weekend, we babysat and took care of my sister's children for the weekend. Jonathan was a week shy of 12 months at the time; he is an angel. Christopher turned 4 in June; he talks all of the time and knows everything. I mean everything! Ryan is 7; Ryan has autism. Ryan doesn't talk; when he gets terribly frustrated, he hits and bites out of frustration.




Ryan is adorable. He is in a world of his own. He spends hours at the swimming pool just putting water into a cup and pouring it back out. He takes off all of his clothes at the pool. He eats salt off of chips, pretzels and anything else with salt. He likes to eat the peel off of lemons.


It is because of Ryan that many in our family are heading to Charlotte for an autism awareness walk on Saturday. My daughter Tiffany is coming from Nashville; son Tree is coming from D.C.; daughter Mandy and her son, Harrison, are coming from Denver.

Children with autism are often extremely bright. I believe Ryan is. When he was only two, he could put together puzzles quickly. It was amazing to watch him do so.

But Ryan hits himself; he occasionally hits and bites others. Like I said, he is in a world of his own. How I wish we could get easily communicate with him. He is, as the below graphic shows, unique and mysterious.