Ok, Ben THREW a ball just now.

This is a big deal.

He was hitting a nerf-type soccer ball against his head. I got behind him and held his arm at the elbow. Then I made a throwing motion swift enough that it would fall out of his hand. We did that a few times. Then I left him alone and

Mr. Benzermatic threw the ball several times. We all cheered and he looked around at all of us like

"WOW! If I do this everytime will everyone LOOK AT ME AND CHEER? This is the coolest thing EVER! I'll do it a few more times! These big-heads are cheering again!"

Yeah, I'm excited as hell that Benzermatic threw the ball.

Now I'm remembering what it was like working in the group homes. People that were institutionalized for years and years would come into the group home and learn things and it was such a great thing. They felt so great and WE felt great.

I just realized that Ben has been working for days trying to figure out how to get the fan on top of the little closet thing in his and Boo's room. He climbed inside the closet on the shelf and realized that was probably not the way.

You ever hear the term "false hope?"

There is no such thing. It's a bullshit term.

Hope is hope.

Ben has his label of Autism and that's that. I'm not going to keep him there in my mind. I keep imagining him as a "normal" boy because that's how I keep seeing him. I'm not being delusional, but I won't apologize for thinking he will keep progressing into a capable individual.

Autism and any other neurological label or illness is a label. However trite it sounds, the label does not define the person. It's a label. I rather like having the label so we all have something to go by.

The experts. They're great. But I'm not going to let them define my kid.

A lot of us have had a lot of experience with conventional medicine and it has it's place. I'm not going to bag on medicine. But I know that it has a lot of limitations.

I guess I've learned to be wary and not take any doctor's word as biblical, so to speak.

So I've got a kid with disabilities and he threw a ball today and he smiled and looked at every single person in his family.

And Mr. Baby smiled at each of us as he threw his ball.

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Tanya McBee Gunby | Create Your Badge