A Seal's Spirit...

My typical son Matthew wants to be a Navy Seal one day....

So... much like I did when my son Brandon was diagnosed with autism -- I researched and read. Anything and everything.  My subscriptions of Good Housekeeping and Greenpeace replaced by Autism Journals and letter writing campaigns. A different kind of home improvement, a different kind of activism...

And so... when Matt said he was joining the military -- actually on my Birthday this year he did join the Navy with the desire to go through BUD/S training to become a Navy Seal; -- I did no less than what I did for Brandon.

In reading everything about the Navy, and Navy Seals, etc.  I'm reading Lone Survivor now; and yes, I even have The Bluejacket's Manual of everything you ever wanted to know about the Navy, it's history, heritage, and customs, to read next.

Even with what I have read so far in the book Lone Survivor, it seems I've come across those values and dedication before.  That sheer invincibility.  That fierce determination  to dodge death.  To defy what others set as standard. To indeed do what others say can't be done.

I see it in my son with autism.  I see it in autism parents.  In the autism community.

This poster above is something I found on Marcus Luttrell's facebook page.  Marcus is the author of Lone Survivor, - a book based on his time served as a Navy Seal.    So yes, I've even sought out Navy Seal's to be friends with on facebook!  Without reading any book on the Navy or about being a Navy Seal, you get a sense of their spirit just from that letter outside of a recovering Navy Seal's hospital room.

I think I'll do something similar for outside our front door symbolizing our "Life with Autism":

ATTENTION

To all who (dare) enter here

If you are coming into this house with pity or to feel sorry for us, or our son because of all we can't do, all he can't do, go elsewhere.  The diagnosis he received, caused by an unseen sniper's bullet via the vaccine industry, has ultimately given him freedom. Freedom from chains that enslave you.  Freedom to sleep soundly with no regrets of yesterday and no worries for tomorrow.  His freedom allows him to live only for the moment and whatever that moment brings, be it tears, pain, laughter, joy...

Do not mistake that his "battle wound" makes him, or us, weak. Our son is incredibly tough and has indeed survived multiple tours of duty.  He has inspired us to live with Hopeism for recovery. What is recovery for him? The absolute utmost that his body has the ability to recover and his mind to understand. In helping him to pursue that  we have found something within ourselves that we never otherwise would have found. That necessity, that drive, that ability, - to give 100% physically and then push ourselves another 20% further through sheer mental tenacity.

This house, this "Life with Autism" you are about to enter is one where we make the best of any situation. Where we resolve to laugh and have fun despite being caught off guard so often by the many ambushes of autism.  Our "Life with Autism" is one of optimism and intense rapid regrowth of personal beliefs and values of what truly matters in this life. Who truly matters in this life. Surviving a bullet that would kill or destroy most others, does that to a person.

Our soldier cannot talk, cannot write, and cannot read.  He is overcome by seizure after seizure. He is an adult who has the innocence and purity of a child and who might not ever marry or have a family of his own. But you would never know that at first glance. Those scars do not show.  Only his happiness.  Only his sweetness.  He has never complained about what he can't do, not once. He simply wakes up, smiles, laughs, loves, and lives - as best as he can.  Doing what he can.  Every single day he overcomes and survives what would discourage, depress, defeat - even the strongest and most perfect among us.

Please don't think us rude, insensitive, or stuck-up, but because of that we simply do not have the time, patience, or sympathy to cry over your proverbial glass of spilled milk that for only a moment in comparison, soaks your life.

If you aren't prepared for that, if you can't take that...

Go elsewhere.

Don't enter this autism recovery zone!

From
Team Guppy

~ ~ ~ 

The more I read about all that Matthew wants to be, the more I smile at how all things in our life have come together and how we have been shaped into who we are because of it.

We've experienced beauty for ashes, strength for fear, gladness for sorrow, and peace for despair. 

Whether or not Matt makes it through BUD/S to officially become a Navy Seal, to me he is one in heart and soul because of his part in our "Life with Autism" and all he has learned from it. He will never in his life cry over a glass of spilled milk. He will never let temporary disappointments or failures detour him. And like the Navy Seal who wrote that message outside his hospital room door, that is what makes one a Navy Seal whether they have the trident to symbolize it or not.

Whether or not Brandon recovers fully from autism, to me he has made it through autism training camp to officially wear the trident of a Navy Seal.  That trident representing courage and strength.  Symbolizing that he has survived what only an elite few can survive...

Life with Autism...

Oh.... if we would all live our lives with such a sign outside our doors!