I have a friend. His name is Sammy. He will be eleven next week. His favorite color is yellow and his room was recently painted to match his favorite color. He LOVES to talk to me about machines, cars, electronics, robots, and Thomas the Tank Engine. He likes to ride his go-cart on the golf cart path, and he loves his yellow bicycle. He has a strange fixation on screaming and crying babies. He wants to have his own RV with back-up video cameras, 6x6 wheels, and an air-conditioning system.
Sammy likes to go to the playground and he likes piggy-back rides. He likes to watch Monster Garage and just about anything else on the Discovery Channel or TLC that has to do with cars or any type of machinery. He is very talented when it comes to sound effects, especially motors.
Sammy doesn't usually like to be touched unless he touches you first. He likes to sit on me opposed to sitting next to me. He loves to listen to me read him Eyewitness books. However, he is not a huge fan of storybooks.
I have been babysitting Sammy and his sister for the past 6 months. I am with them everyday after school for about 2 hours. This job is like no other babysitting job I have ever had. I have learned more about education, families, and even myself at this "job" than any other job has ever taught me. Sammy sometimes challenges my patience and my sanity, but at the end of the day, it is all worth it.
Sammy has autism. He has a rather high-functioning form of this disorder, as he knows everything there is to know about my Honda Accord and almost every other car. I have had the opportunity to visit his classroom and see him in different environments.
Sammy's presence in my life has been a huge blessing to me. I knew going into this that I would be learning so many things, but never did I expect this relationship with this family to be so important to me. The things that Sammy directly and indirectly teaches me are priceless.
God is good. So very good. I can't wait to see how He will use these lessons later in my life.
P.S. There is a picture of Sammy below :)
7 comments:
Erin! I like your blog and i'm glad you have one! (I found it from Kim's, in case you're wondering how I got here...) I miss you girls and we totally need to hang out and have our dance party soon! Also, I want to have you guys down for dinner sometime. Give me a call!
I'm looking forward to hearing more about these lessons you've learned from Sammy while we're eating white cheese dip next week!
Mandy-I would love to come down for dinner! We need to have you come over sometime when you are up here during the week. How about some time after spring break? We will all be back on the 20th, so we need to schedule dinner and the dance party.
Kim-I would love to share my experiences with you, especially over white cheese dip. I am so excited! Mandy was able to experience Santino's a few weeks ago while she was there for a college fair. She approved! See you soon!
Yay! I'm glad we're going to plan to hang out someday. what weeknights are good for you? wed. & thurs. are usually empty for me. if not those, i'm in b-ton seriously every weekend and usually just staying at my sister's house on sat. night and all day sunday. give me a call sometime if you're bored on a saturday or sunday!
oh yeah, and Santino's WAS really good! so glad I stopped!
Just want to apreciate what you've done. I enjoy reading it!
Just want to appreciate what you've done. I enjoy reading your blog!
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