Starry Night....NaPoWriMo #32

When any child speaks I believe parents tuck that away in memory. When a child with autism only repeats phrases they hear and never answers you when they are little it is an incredible moment when they speak for the first time. I mean say something that isn’t a script or repeating something you just said. At least that is our experience.

Our son we took camping and he had this moment. The stars were incredibly bright and it was hard not to look up at them for hours. I stared at him starring up at the stars because I was transfixed by this moment as much as he was.

Today, he and I were talking about camping and Oregon and he said,”Mama, the stars in Washington are quiet, but the ones in Oregon make noise.” Remembering back to this vivid moment when he was three, I told him about it and I asked him, “So, when you said “quiet stars” were you telling them to be quiet or were you saying at that time they were quiet? Are they no longer quiet to you?” He couldn’t answer me at this time. Knowing him, he will answer in a month or two. I’ll let you know when we all have an answer to that question. But for now, this is how I remember camping with him a little over six years ago.

Oregon’s Bright Nights

We pitched a tent and were so unsure

Not of us, but what you might do

You were three and full of energy

You didn’t answer to your name

You hardly played any games

You kicked at unknown stimuli

All of which made us sigh

But you are a part of us

We, in some ways, didn’t mind the fuss

We were teaching you to play

And trying new things to get you to say

Any words that you didn’t have

We worked hard not to make you mad

You often would just laugh and laugh

At sounds or butterflies or baths

But it was your anticipation

In looking into the night sky

With eyes so very wide

You wouldn’t go into the tent

You were adamant

We couldn’t understand it

Until you uttered a phrase

And we were amazed

That the earth’s beauty

Could draw you out

To the point we wanted to shout

Your little voice and smile

Reverently whispering

The sweetest of things

Nothing is still on par

With that moment you whispered, “Quiet stars”

In the day you wondered, “Star go?”

And every night we’d hold you so

As you gazed and gazed

Up at those bright spheres

Repeating “quiet stars” with no fears