Broomfield Therapy Care. I have cried in Mia's therapy session before. We were in Speech Therapy with Kelly. Mia was in a large sling that engulfed her entire body. Every once in a while you would see her arm or leg pop out of the slit she climbed in through. Kelly was pushing her and Mia said "mu gu" which meant "more go". Kelly and I laughed with excitement. Then something washed over me. I became aware that this was a milestone. So many times before, we had gone to speech therapy and made no apparent progress. I was expecting that day to be more of the same. But she spoke. Emotion grabbed me and my eyes filled with tears. My voice got caught in my throat as I was cheering Mia on. Kelly looked over at me "are you ok" she asked. "I'm sorry I'm just getting a little emotional" I said. I stood up and faced the wall, I hate it when people see me cry. I struggled to compose myself.
I find myself getting choked up a lot these days. I used to take pride that I didn't cry easily. I remember watching Titanic as a kid and not understanding why my cousin was balling beside me. Since Autism became a big part of my life, I usually feel as if I may cry at any minute.
One such moment came over me yesterday. Mia and I were in the gym at Children's Hospital. There were two other kids playing on the slide. Twins, a boy and a girl around 6 years old. Their therapist had them throw a beanie baby down the slide and then follow. The girl went head first. I like this kid. Mia is hypnotized by them. She loves watching them go down. I know she's excited because she flaps her arms and says "ohhh". Mia wants to be part of the game, but has a lot of anxiety about heights. She always wants someone to hold her as she slides rather than going on her own. Liz climbed the ladder after Mia and together they went down. I saw a huge smile on Mia's face when she got to the bottom. She went up again, but again wouldn't go down without Liz. For the third time Mia climbed the ladder, "Come on Mia" I say as I slap my hands on the bottom of the slide. "You can do it honey". The twins, their mom and three therapists and I are all saying "Come on Mia". Mia is at the top, she approaches the slide then turns around. "Come on Mia" we all say. She's so nervous. "Come on Mia" She approaches again. She situates herself so her legs are stretched out in front of her and with her right hand on the edge she lets herself go. "Yay Mia!" We all say. I see the twins therapist put her hand over her heart, as if to calm her emotions. I'm not the only one who will cry today.
