That Leather Jacket: Raising A Son With Special Needs

Willie has been mad, sad, frustrated, difficult to be around, hard to help, worrisome, and I could go on.  It's been a couple years now like this. But he is coming out if it.  Just this week, he was happy, light, fun, pleasant, easy to talk to, a pleasure to be with. This is a welcome change.

As he walked into Rockrose House in that stunning new, black, leather jacket, I could feel his lightness. I know that jacket isn't why he is happier. But it sure does represent that beacon of hope we are always on the lookout for.

If you read my blog regularly, you know that Willie loves costumes.  They help him define himself. They help him come to accept his many faceted moods and behaviors.  They are almost like a shield or a blanket that protects that tender little boy that is still so prominent inside our Willie.

Throughout the years, we have had to help Willie find socially acceptable costumes.  Truth is that a 190 pound, 6 foot tall man/boy walking around in a Batman costume is just too scary for today's world.  But a leather jacket, with all the frills, is OK.

Willie has been talking about this leather jacket for years.  But because he is more even and patient now, he actually could help me pick it out on the many, many Internet sites we scoured last time he was home.  In the past, his irritability would have prevented him from even being able to sit with me through this process.  But I pushed him, as I knew I could, to help me find the one that represented the right image of himself.  It took a while; over 20 minutes.  And when we found the one he agreed to, I could tell it would be important.

So the awesome leather jacket came to him through the mail.  And I heard he was liking and wearing it.  But when he walked through that door, I wasn't expecting that. There Willie stood, with a very cool leather jacket on, with some faded jeans, and he just was happy.  You could feel it across the room.  And he stayed that way for the next 3 hours of our time together.  I savored every minute as I wafted the fabulous new leather smell coming from my son.

Leather pants next on the agenda...