My Brother and I

My daughter, budding dancer and artist extraordinaire, has asked to share some thoughts on growing up with her autistic brother.  So, I turn over the computer to her....and hope for the best:

Hi again my name is Samantha. And i am Tyler's sister and today i will be talking about how i feel about having a autistic brother and how i lived for 4 years with a brother like that. And to start i what to talk about is going on trips and having him on trips was great because now i don't get to do that and the best part was when you go in the wheelchair lane you get right on and i love how the people at Disney made sure he got right on because they knew what he had and now i give a big shout out to the people that did that for my brother so thank you. and i do like doing that with my brother because it is a family moment with all of my family together and i love being with my family and when we used to go to the beach together i would the same thing he would do he would take a shovel and dig sand and throw it over his shoulder and i would do the same thing and it was fun all the time to spend time with him and having a brother is really nice because some people don't get siblings and i am one of the lucky ones that get to have a sibling now some people might be saying that was it hard to bring him on trips well yes it is it is hard for all of us because we all need to keep our distant because he tends to get figity  when people crowd him so that's how he gets and i have a message for you to remember and this is coming from me a kid who had experience that never judge a book by a cover because when you do that people kinda feel what your saying and it is mean to do that and that is why i now what you to know that when you see people like Tyler don't judge him he can't help that he has what he has and when i am at like Disney i feel like people are staring at him and i don't like it when people do that because it is wrong to do that and that's why i want you to appreciate these people who are going through this and you might not know but these people are trying and when people laugh at them they feel bad inside and we don't want people to do that so when ever you see someone talking or laughing i want you to step up for whoever it is you need to step up for them because that is the right thing to do and that's what i want you to do because these people can't fight for themselves so my message is that you don't judge a book by it's cover and i want you to stay beautiful, awesome, and loving  and be nice to everyone you meet and no matter where you live there is love in the air and that's why be nice anywhere you go and to anyone you meet so love you Tyler and bye for now .


Let's review.  First it appears we need to work on punctuation (any would be helpful!).  I wasn't sure about her loving Disney for the perks of skipping lines, but glad she recovered by shouting out to the Disney employees for making sure Tyler was so well taken care of.  What strikes me the most is that she is THANKFUL to have a brother, even one who made things more challenging for her.  She obviously wants everyone to treat their fellow man with kindness and respect, which is one thing that I truly love the most about her. 

We can learn a lot from the eyes and heart of a child.  Maybe she is telling us the greatest 3 things we can all do....all in one glorious run-on sentence:
1. Enjoy every little moment with your family
2. Be thankful no matter what challenges you face
3. Be kind and love everyone no matter what their "cover" might look like

Pretty profound stuff.  Thanks Sam.

Be well and God bless.   Tom