Walking Man

There's been lots of walking around here the past few weeks as Elijah has started a social skills group twice a week that allows Sarah to burn off some calories as she walks around the neighborhood that the "playhouse" (as Elijah calls the therapist's home) is located. That is in addition to the nightly walks Elijah insists we take as he makes his way through every cul-de-sac in every housing development within a 10-mile radius of our home. After these walks, he immediately goes home and re-creates the street we just walked on, drawing the homes and basketball goals he viewed. The nuances of each street and goal are very evident to his discerning eye, but to be honest, neither Sarah and I see the detail he picks up on.

As I mentioned, Elijah has been involved in a new social skills group, and on a recent trip to our local Barnes & Noble, I witnessed a major change in a behavioral situation. As he approached the toy train set in the children's section, he initiated an introduction with a woman there and asked her son if he could share one of the trains. Since both of these actions

were done without any prompting, I couldn't wait to tell Sarah about this new development. The fact that his voice and tone were eerily similar to Eddie Haskell of the "Leave It To Beaver" show was perhaps the only drawback.

The first walk this past week that was actually scheduled was the Catwalk, a fundraiser at Elijah's elementary school. Elijah walked with his para, Ms. Pennie, and seemed (as the picture shows) to have had a great time, not only at the walk, but with a friend afterward.

The other walk this past weekend was when Elijah, Sarah and myself were joined by friends and family at the Autism Speaks Walk at the Kansas Speedway. The weather was perfect, and little guy was excited to see the members of his walk team show up to support him. The arrival of Miss Nikki (who had worked with Elijah earlier this year as part of her graduate work) and her husband brought a big smile to Elijah's face. He was delighted that his friend Janey (and her mother) came to walk with him. As always, the arrival of Uncle George and Aunt Julie brought a smile to his face, as did the arrivals of Ali and April, who have gotten to know Elijah while working at the child center at our health club. But NOTHING compared to seeing another former worker at the club, Kelsey, who left the area to go off to college.

When Elijah saw her, his first words were, "Kelsey, I've missed you," and the ear-to-ear grin

and hug were a joy to see. Elijah held hands with Kelsey and Nikki almost the entire walk, enjoying their company so much he wanted to keep on walking (as long as he got a cupcake from the refreshment area).

After the walk, it was time to say goodbye, not only to our team members, but to all those who have gotten to know Elijah through the years and were at Resource Center at the walk site. This included not only Miss Tiffany, who runs the summer camp Elijah goes to and also teaches him piano, but his new social skill therapists as well (Melissa, Melinda and Eileen), who gave Elijah a big hug and hello.

Once he had said all of his goodbyes to his "older" women, Elijah turned his attention to his friend Janey, and the two of them ran off to the inflatables area and played there until the guys who owned the equipment finally deflated them to go home. (Elijah told me that as the air came out of them, they "looked like the Witch in the Wizard of Oz when she melted.")

Just like last year, it was a great day for the walk, and the support we had made it very special for our family. For those of you who walked with us, supported us with a contribution or did both, I can't begin to thank you enough. From the moment Elijah got there, his smile never left his face. Like any parents, we have good and bad days, but sometimes we seem to carry a burden that Elijah has no clue even exists, so the smile he had on walk day was one that we could truly share and relish in. As Elijah rushed over to give Janey a hug as she left, I thought about how far we had come over the past year and how we should never take for granted those little gestures that can mean so much.