Adams Camp 2011: WE R OK
Simple blog tonight. I don't want to screw my memory I made tonight with my words. Spent the evening with four other families who are raising a child living with autism. We went to a large field and ate BBQ, had water gun fights, laughed, flew a kite, cooked dozens of smores, and just celebrated life.
It was a night where the labels that get stuck on our children were not invited to attend. There were no typical children. There were no children in the spectrum. There were no worry worn parents. There was no concern about outside eyes casting judgement on the behaviors of my autistic child. There was no need to explain anything...everyone already understood.
It was an evening where joy, laughter, and mud where in ample supply.
On the way home my children were smiling from ear to ear. I was going to make a comment about that to them until I noticed that I was doing the same thing.
We all have moments in our life that while we are experiencing it we realize that we are indeed making a memory. This was one of those...
Four children who are walking the maze of autism with their families who love them dearly had a night off of fighting.
I like to make life complicated. Tonight is a reminder how simple everything can be if I allow it to be....
Family
Friendship
Laughter
Play
Safety
Joy
For at least one evening I allowed my children to bathe in the glow of all of those things.
Tonight is a reminder that despite all the my melodramatics we are okay..we are alright. Although there are moments of hardship and moments where I am forced to re-define how our family operates we are okay...we are alright. We are just a family that sings a little bit louder and to a different tune than I ever thought we would have.
We are okay. We are alright.
We are okay. We are alright.
We are okay. We are alright.
I said it three times. That makes it true.
A night of smiling, water-gun-fight-soaked children, and respite for all in the eye of a hurricane.
Thank God.
A night so fun that this was the only picture I remembered to take.....Noah's smile says it all.
We are Okay....We Are Alright...
Posted by john roedel at 6/23/2011 9:13 PM 
Categories: Autism, Life, Adams Camp
Tags: John Roedel Adams Camp autism
Categories: Autism, Life, Adams Camp
Tags: John Roedel Adams Camp autism
As a parent to two twin autistic boys I can appreciate this so much. Many thanks to you John.
I love your words...and the song you included is my new anthem. I am going to paste the lyrics for all to see!
WE ARE OKAY by JOSHUA RADIN
We are grown but cannot see
Lost our world of make believe
Simple times now seem so far
Used to be in my backyard
Yeah, the world was still in my backyard
But, we are okay, we are alright
We sing very loud,
Yeah, we're singing
We are okay, we are alright
Close our eyes, close our mouth
Yeah, we shut our eyes though we're in doubt
Build me a home from a cardboard box
Many windows never locked
This is how we used to play
Shorter nights and longer days
With faith we would not fade away
But we are okay, we are alright
We sing very loud
Yeah, we're singing
We are okay, we are alright
Close our eyes, close our mouth
Yeah we shut our eyes though we're in doubt
And so it goes
We can never seem to find, the time we lost
Though we try at any cost
We try, we sing
We are okay, we are alright
We sing very loud
Yeah, we're singing
We are okay, we are alright
Close our eyes, close our mouth
Yeah we shut our eyes though we're in doubt
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What a fantastic picture, John! They should use that as an advertisement for the camp. So great to see Noah so happy, and the rest of you, too.
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