Summer

Today is the last day of summer school. Dear Son and I waited for the bus, as we normally do. We’d go out to wait for the bus early, early enough to transition him to the large adult white rocker, the one that used to be too tall for him to use, his feet sitting squarely on the ground, as he rocks the morning away listening to all of the birdies singing songs to him. He’d rock for about fifteen minutes or so until I’d transition him back to the wheelchair so he could go to school.

Summer school, is a bit different for these kids. The plan, is that it is supposed to help them maintain their skills, the ones they have worked on all year, with the addition of a few weeks over the summer. The summer school program in this area is quite nice. It is run by the Special Education Cooperative in association with another group, a Special Education Park District, of sorts. This means the summer is filled with a field trip every Monday, swimming Tuesday through Friday, summer concerts and a host of fun activities dictated by the theme for the summer. This year's theme was "Summer Celebration." I really love the fact that they do all of these activities, activities that are often too hard or too tiring to do by myself now that he is all grown up. It takes a lot of work to do any one of these activities, let alone so many and yet Dear Son enjoys them immensely. It also gives him a chance at a normal life, one filled with fun things to look forward to instead of sitting in a rocker staring outside all day, watching the able bodied kids run around and play. Instead of watching the action, he's a part of the action. Big difference.

He’s had a great summer thanks to his two adult males aides, Brett and Jamie. They helped him have fun in the pool this summer, took him to the park, took him to the concerts at school and in general worked with him one on one all summer long.

This is great for Dear Son who thoroughly enjoys all of the summer fun. Just last week, they had a summer concert and I got the newsletter that Dear Son enjoyed the country music, his favorite. He was yelling and carrying on and smiling the entire time. They also mentioned that he had a great dance partner, Beth, from the transition house. If there is anyone who loves a party, it would be Dear Son. These activities allow him to enjoy life similar to the way I enjoyed summer as a kid, only he needs a little more assistance. While I spent every summer playing Sugar League 16 inch Softball, he spends the summer swimming at the pool.

But there are some things that don’t seem to change over time or so we’d like to think. As I got Dear Son on the bus today, I said to the bus driver, a good looking man in his early fifties,that today was the last day of school. Without missing a beat, he turned to Dear Son and said, “Ah, Dear Son. Today is the last day to get the girls phone numbers before summer.” With that, we both had a good laugh. And with that, it brought summer all the way back.