On March 24, 2006 I decided to go to Wendy's for lunch. I decided to take Michael with me (if you don't know who Michael is, you can read my post about my journey into the world of autism) and my co-worker Michele joined us as well.
The first thing you should know is that Michael is not a touchy guy, occasionally I could get him to give me what I called a head hug where we touched foreheads, but that's about it. While we were sitting eating our lunch Michael was sitting next to me in a booth. He kept resting his head on my shoulder which I thought was really strange for him. I kept asking him what was wrong, and obviously he didn't answer me since he doesn't talk. He did this at least 2 or 3 times.
About 10 minutes later I got a call letting me know that my grandma had passed away. Not a great day for me.
I think about this experience a lot. I don't know how Michael knew, but I believe he did know. I believe he was trying to comfort me before I even knew anything was wrong. And he gave me the greatest comfort that anyone could that week. I don't know if he knew of the significance of his gestures that day, but they were very significant. I will forever be grateful for that experience, I may never know what was going through Michael's mind at the time, but it doesn't matter. I don't really believe in coincidences like that.
Joy Mano
Utah PLAY Project Home Consultant
Early Intervention Treatment for Children With Autism
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