“Who is your most favorite person?” Easy…Matthmatician! That is one of the silly nicknames, I’ve bestowed upon my son. His name is Matthew… and I’ve put different spins on his name, his whole life. Of course, his first “nickname” was Charlie Brown…becuz he had THE roundest head we’d ever seen…besides Charlie Brown. These days, however, he’s usually “just Matthew”…not Matthmatician, not Matthachusettes, not even Matthman… he insists,

“Just Matthew.”

Whatever name (or nickname), that we use…he is, undeniably my favorite person. His autism can create challenging situations, for us both; but, life would be boring if everything was easy. Imagine the landscape was just flat…everywhere…with no daisy-coveted hilltops, no snow-capped mountains, no green valleys below…just flat. I don’t know about you, but I was yawning, just thinking about it. But, luckily for us all…the Earth is diverse! #EarthIsDiverse A beautifully complicated, equal parts frightening and comforting, hectic yet gloriously serene paradise. Earth is Special; even with all the neglect and disrespect that humans are guilty of. The Special are so monikered, because of their superiority… and the vulnerability they’re burdened with, during their time among us lesser humans. Matthew is 6’2″, 265lbs of silly, creative, thoughtful, huggable genius! He’s also 6’2″, 265lbs of emotionally unstable, sorrow scarred, traumatized, aggressive and destructive, oversized toddler…in many ways, still. Together (and separately), we’ve faced and have (mostly), overcome some really intense and traumatic sh*t, over the last 20+ years. We have scars that show…and scars that don’t. It’s been exhausting, at times; but, through it all…we have faced it, together. Other folks have come and gone, thru the years. We’ve got family we adore, but rarely see; and we have family we adore, but never see.

Day to day, week to week, month to month… it’s just us. We live in a small (very small), one bedroom apartment, in Southern Minnesota. Being a growing boy, he has the bedroom…boys need their privacy & kids need a space they can call their own. And WHEN he sleeps, he does so in his very cool “tent bed”. He can completely zip himself (and his mattress), inside the big black tent…choosing, sometimes to unzip the “windows” (less often, the “doors”) on either side of the tent. I love it when he’s in there, “playing a game” (as he calls it), in his head…and giggling at his own silliness. His “games” are creative ways in which he works-out the storylines, for his stories, which are drawn out -storyboard form- in spiral notebooks. Then, I draw and color each character…humans, monsters, mutants, aliens, cyborgs, etc… What used to be a “hobby”, has become his obsession. It is “easier” to focus on the stories; distracting himself from the changes that seem to saturate our fate. Yet, regardless of the unexpected…the haunting, nearly crippling, left field launched surprises that seem to wait around every corner…we face it, we survive it, we sometimes dwell on it (but occasionally learn nothing from it)…and in the end, we are a team. A dynamic duo, so to speak (heh, heh). Me and Matth, against the World.

And I’m okay with that.

Daily writing prompt

Who are your current most favorite people?

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