Love Anthony

I just finished a great book about Autism. " Love Anthony", by Lisa Genova.  It's about a child with Autism and how two women's lives become intertwined, unforgettably.  Autism has been something I've been interested in ever since I had a job caring for an autistic boy one summer.  It was before I finished my nursing degree.  I met him and his mother when I was doing a project on Autism and they were my case study.  He was an interesting little boy.  I learned a lot from him that summer.  He was somewhat of a mystery but also pretty straight forward, I knew when he was happy and I knew when he was sad.  There didn't seem to be a lot in between.  I think he liked hanging out with me, I certainly enjoyed hanging with him.  We went to the park, and swimming almost everyday that summer.  We often traded lunches, he would eat my brown bag lunch,  I would eat his ceaser salad, his mom thought it was his favorite, but my lunch always looked better to him.  He loved routine and so did I.  It was pretty peaceful with him, he didn't talk, I'm rather quiet by nature so we got a long fine. His world seemed so much simpler than mine, I thought.  Even though I've cared for 100's of people over the past 13 years he was special in my heart, taking care of him grounded me and I think about him all the time.