Divine Intervention

This is our boy, our son, our other pride and joy...Brandon.

I've never shared the story of how the universe blessed us with him.

Several years ago, Aria brought Brandon home after school. It wasn't too unlike most times that she had brought friends over except that this child was quiet, curled in on himself, and spoke with the quietest voice..only when we directly asked a question. He quickly became a regular visitor who still maintained the same shy demeanor and did everything possible to make himself as small and hidden as possible. I remember hearing Brandon and Aria laughing in another room and thinking that she had such a gentle way with him. She allowed him to be himself with no pressure and no judgement. Yet, as soon as he would see us or any other adult, he would go silent and quietly disappear into himself, again.

It was the day after New Years. It was snowing and below freezing outside at around ten pm. Aria was gone for the weekend and Kendrick and I were snuggled on the couch watching a movie..when we heard a faint knock on the door. Not hearing a car pull up we figured it was the wind blowing. Then we heard it again. There stood Brandon. Soaking wet, shivering, and looking terrified and sad. That was the night that he came into our home, never to leave again.

Brandon was a child of parents who had addiction issues. All of his life he was shipped from family member to family member. He was diagnosed as being on the Autism spectrum and was put on Social Security at a young age. His family pumped him full of pills that suppressed his personality in the attempt to make him silent. He saw many forms of abuse at the hands of his family, more than anything, emotional abuse. For a time, he lived with an aunt who belittled him and set him apart from her own kids and didn't hesitate to let him know that he was not HER kid. On holidays and birthdays, he watched his cousins and family open gifts and learned at a young age that he should feel lucky to just have a place to stay. One Christmas, he was given a pair of hedge clippers..because that's what they expected of him. He was to do the household chores, go to school, and stay silent.

After moving in with his Grandmother, it was much of the same treatment. His diagnosis continued to allow her to cash a check in his name. She had very strict rules and expectations for the jobs he was to perform in the home. Aria was not allowed to visit except for a couple of times, during which, his grandmother made it very clear that she was not welcome and she did not approve of their friendship. It seemed that Brandon's family wanted to isolate him from the outside world as much as possible. We can only speculate why.

The night Brandon showed up at our doorstep he was shaking in fear, hunger, and cold. He was late shoveling his grandmother's driveway. As punishment, he spent four days in his room with no contact from anyone, including his grandmother. She did not feed him. She turned off the internet..and made him sit alone.

Something in Brandon finally came to the surface, and he realized that he couldn't take it anymore. In his light sweatshirt and jeans, he slipped out of the house and walked to ours, hoping to be let in and be fed.

Divine intervention made sure we were home to receive him, warm him, feed him. For the first time since we had met him, he talked..and couldn't stop talking. He had been starved of human affection and attention and it showed.

Fast forward to now.

Brandon has become a young man who never ceases to amaze us. He is intelligent, so intelligent. Every person that has witnessed the change since he's been here is amazed, and says so. He is no longer that withdrawn and quiet boy. He is a young man who laughs, tells jokes, and walks taller with pride in himself.

 Two weeks ago I asked him how he felt about himself now. His answer, "I used to think that being autistic was a disability. Now I see that it just makes me a little different. And that's OK. I realized that I am capable of more than I ever thought. I know that the people in my life that treated me badly, did it because they had problems, not me. I know what it's like to have parents that love me more than my birth parents did, and that I deserve that, because I'm a good person that has something to offer the world."

And he's right. Oh so right.

Today he graduated from high school. His teachers and guidance counselor have worked endlessly with us to get to this point. This is the first year that Brandon passed all of his classes the whole year. He did so well, he was asked to co-teach a chemistry class. He inspired his science teacher so much, that he began to fight for Brandon's rights as an individual, not just someone with a diagnosis. Brandon has become so empowered. He speaks for himself at his IEP meetings. HE arranges the level of help he needs. One of the first things we did when he came to live with us was to stop Social Security and stop the onslaught of medical appointments. We wanted to show him that he had value...and that his value had nothing to do with money.

That's our Brandon. It's a story that makes me cry at the thought of it. His growth as a person is inspiring. We love him more and more every day.

Our wish for him is to continue to learn what a light he is in this world, that he is capable of more than anyone ever told him he was, and that he knows just how loved and lovable he really is.