“We all need:
1) something to do
2) someone to love
3) something to look forward to.”
Watchwords for today, and always, brought to you and me by my wonderful yoga teacher yesterday. I’d remarked at how one of the best things people can do to help the disabled is to give them a job.My wonderful friend gave Jeff a job for the next few weeks: painting her mailbox and 6-part fence. We took photos for a social story and washed the mailbox the other day so we can get to work, albeit later than I’d like due the hubby’s desire to have some holiday time away in the mountains.
Jeff’s teacher enthusiastically endorsed the mission, and in a stroke of meant-to-be-ness, my business has rearranged itself (euphemism) to allow me ample time for the boys.
My guys lie sleeping this Saturday morning but they’re on my mind, as always. I’m jamming to complete a bunch of chores ahead of the long holiday weekend, and while they’ll have a few on their list, they deserve this morning moment. They do. And while that mother guilt is always present – did I really do enough for them yesterday? – are we doing the right things today? – the trees in the yard beyond, and the smell of the bread proofing in the oven, tell me otherwise. They grew to where there’s available space, always seeking, growing without my guidance. They found their way into the open. So will I.
As a whole new beyond opens – with my own opportunity to build an autism employment business I’ve always longed to do – I’m hopeful that they like everyone else will have something to do, and not just any old thing, but something they enjoy, with meaning and purpose to their days. I hope they know they have someone to love, if only me and each other. As for the looking forward part, there’s the car trip, the boys’ word and really our entire family’s life metaphor for a journey to some destination whose end is irrelevant – because it’s the journey that’s all that matters in the end.