There's so much we take for granted

"We" being the collective "we"...

Last night Tom Nook (Superman's favourite item in the entire world..he's a stuffed animal and he's never far from his side) had been MIA for 8.5 hours (but who was counting). So bedtime rolls around and Superman was getting anxious about not having Tom, but it was simmering. Then at the last moment I remembered one little cranny of the house we hadn't search and low and behold he was there. *phew*

When I told Superman that I had found him, his eyes lit up and he got a little weepy. And this is what gets me. He said "Mommy, I have a funny feeling in my tummy when I see him but I don't know why. What does it mean?"

Wow.

Right there is autism.

The inability to know something that comes so naturally to everyone else. Superman knows happy, sad, scared, confused, frustrated and angry. He knows the clear black and white emotions. But he doesn't know the in between ones.

So I had to explain to him that the anxiety was "worry" and the funny feeling when we found him was "relief" and realizing how much he missed him. And then he said "I'll have to try and remember that but it's hard. I forget what feelings are."

Moments like that just make me want to cry.