
We are in the last quarter of Cameron’s senior year of high school. It’s been quite a while since I last updated, since it tends to be more difficult to write about your kid when he’s almost an adult. However, he granted me permission to write updates, and I promised him he could preview them before publishing, so here we go!
My husband, Jon, and I have been in the trenches for more than 17 years. We’ve had 17 years of ups and downs, assessments, diagnoses, phone calls from school, awkward conversations, hidden poop (see post from 2011), homework battles, grade battles, unfinished homework, arguments, etc. So when good things happen, which they have, I often forget to stop and take them in. I have said it before, and I’ll say it again, I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop. This is when my dear husband will bring my attention to what’s actually happening and we’ll sit in awe together for a few minutes before putting our armor back on to be ready for the next battle. But that’s the other thing; the battles are becoming less frequent. They’re easier to manage when they do come. They are much more manageable than the days when I seriously considered moving myself into a hotel for a while until Cameron turned 30 or so.
So, what’s good? Well, lots of things, actually. Mixed in with those good things are some not-so-good things, which we’ll get to, as well. But let’s just take a moment- or at least the next few blog posts- to appreciate the good things, shall we?
To start off senior year, Cameron was a manager of the girls’ swim team at school. His friend and fellow swimmer was chosen to be on Homecoming Court. The way they do Homecoming Court as his school is by choosing one representative from each club/sport to be on Court, who then chooses a date. Well, Cameron was chosen as a date, and then was on Homecoming Court by proxy. Part of the duties of being on Court is to be in the Homecoming Parade, where they sit in a convertible and throw candy to parade-goers. By the end of the half-mile parade, most of the kids ran out of candy to throw, but we knew our Cameron would spread it out evenly amongst the parade route, which he did. Thanks, NVLD! He looked so happy sitting in the convertible, whipping candy at people, with his huge, striking smile and booming voice.
However, even Cameron gets caught up with the negative moments that, for him, all too often taint some of the positives. When he came home that night, he was struggling with the way other students treated him and his date during the pep assembly at school. Apparently, while the kids shouted and cheered for the other students on Court, they barely politely clapped for Cameron and his date. His frustration was mostly because he has had to work so hard to develop positive relationships at school by trying to be extremely friendly and overcoming the difficulties his NVLD brings- the difficulty reading people, not knowing when he’s taken jokes too far, not being able to stop pushing his point when people are done listening, etc. He felt defeated after working so hard and coming so far, only to be dismissed by his peers.
One positive of NVLD for Cameron is that he shares everything with us- I mean, even things we really don’t want or need to know- if we ask, he shares. Okay, I suppose that may be genetic (note: this blog). So we were grateful he shared his feelings and we were able to help him focus on all the good things from that day: How happy he looked and felt, how he was going with his friend (who he wanted to be his girlfriend) to the dance, how far he’d come from Freshman Cameron. We were so proud! Another positive to his NVLD is his ability to forgive and to move on, and that’s what he did. In the end, Cameron had a wonderful time at the dance. His friend did, indeed, become his girlfriend, and she likes him just the way he is, which speaks to her character. She is caring, kind, and without NVLD or any other issues. She teases him about his lack of fine motor skills and the rest of his struggles- NVLD or otherwise- and he laughs and teases her about whatever he can. This is the type of relationship we’ve set him up for, I guess, since we do the same as his family!
Overall, Homecoming was a win! Although not for the high school football team. They lost.