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October 22, 2007

When getting all the attention is not the intention

Laura Shumaker:

"I'm ready now."

I turned to look at my son Matthew, who is 21 and autistic. He stood in the doorway of the kitchen looking pleased with himself, wearing grass-stained socks and sandals and a clean striped shirt tucked into shorts cinched up high with a belt. His handsome face was clean, but there were several spots he had missed while shaving that morning. His sandy blond hair was combed straight forward in a most unflattering "Dumb and Dumber" sort of way.

"All right," I said, "just comb your hair to the side and do a quick shave and we'll be on our way."

If I could just dress Matthew myself, he would look great, but I had to respect his desire to be treated like a regular 21-year-old.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at October 22, 2007 12:00 AM
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