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kullenkatieman
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Name: Katie
Birthday: 1/28/1985
Interests: running, painting, eating peanut butter and jelly, getting beat up by megan the gentle dinosaur, then getting beat up by Gillian who likes Barbies; the sun, wind, rain, trees, rocks, plains, grass, flowers, tornados and BLUFFS; Camp Barnabas, dancing to the music, beating up her four brothers who are weaklings; panda bears, and mice
Expertise: laughing at things that aren't funny
Occupation: Student
Message: message me
Member Since:
7/4/2005
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| A mother of one of my campers sent me a card, and when I opened it up, it made me cry.... But first, let me give you a little background information:
Sarah, my camper this summer, is autistic. I don't know what you know about autism, but it affects how the brain functions, affecting how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how you make sense of the world around yourself. As with Sarah, if she wanted a relationship with you, it would be on her own terms....let me explain. The first couple days I knew Sarah, she would never look me in the eye...if I happened to glance in her direction, she would either cover up her face with her arm, or hid behind her volunteer counselor. She would sometimes say things to me, but if I tried to respond, she would immediately clam up. The behavior occurred especially with me...we thought that it was maybe because of my height...I was taller than anyone in the cabin. I thought, well, ok, she doesn't like me...no big deal...I didn't come to camp to be liked. So I just tried to be nice, but not do anything that would overwhelm her. Then...
Every night there is a party at camp. The second to last night of camp, the party was a puppet show put on by a church in the area. However, I was not able to watch the puppet show because of another camper (but that's a whole other story :) ). When I get back to our group after the puppet show is over, her volunteer counselor comes up to me and says, "Katie, its really weird, but Sarah has done nothing but talk about you all night, and is kind of upset that you didn't sit with us." Wow. What is going on? I thought she hated me. So I'm thinking, well, maybe she just wants me to be near, but no talking or looking at her. So I decide to sit next to her for what is called "wrap-up", basically songs and a message before we go to bed. I'm sitting there, by her side, and all of a sudden she grabs my hand and will not let go. You don't how amazing that made me feel...I start crying silently, because I am just overwhelmed.
We had one more day of camp, and for all of that day, whenever I was by her, she would grab my hand and not let go. She even ended up giving me a hug that night at Cross Carry, which absolutely blew my mind. And the next day, when her parents came to pick her up, she took my hand and dragged me around until they had to go. 15 minutes after she left for good, I lost it....I just went down to the tennis courts all by myself, and started sobbing because of all that she meant to me, and for the rough, rough life she would have to lead, a life where no one would understand her, and just put her off like I had done the first couple of days, not ever getting to know the heart that she has underneath it all. That was an amazing lesson for me.
But anyway, let me copy what the card says here...it touched me so much.
Katie-
We just wanted to thank you for being such a special part of Sarah's first experience with Camp Barnabas. She had a ball and talks about going back soon almost every day.
Sarah talks to us how you held her hand and helped her not to fall and how you fell asleep 1st at naptime.
She had so much fun!......We'll pray for you next year in school. Hopefully Sarah will see you next year 3rd term. Have a great rest of the summer.
love, Sarah's mom
p.s. Sarah got a new stuffed puppy at "build-a-bear" and named it Katie
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| and I'm Camp Barnabas Bound!!!
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| I think I've realized why I dislike talking on the phone so much. This might be why:
I feel like I am talking to myself.
Ok, let me explain. Its not that the people who I talk to are
hard to carry on a conversation with, indeed, quite the contrary.
99.99% of the people I talk to are better conversationalists than I
could ever dream to be. However, there is something about not
seeing the person that you are talking with that really gets to
me. There is so much that can be gleaned from a person's facial
expressions and mannerisms that is essential to a meaningful
conversation. Obviously, these are quite lacking in a telephone
conversation. So, especially for me, because I think I am more of
a visual person than verbal, it is hard for me to feel normal talking
to people on the phone. I either don't know what to say and get all quiet, or I get all revved up, and start talking a
mile a minute, jabbing about nothing just to fill the space in front of
me where the person's head should be.
Ok, also, this is not to say I don't want to talk to people on the
phone. Indeed, when you both are not in the same place at the
same time, and are unable to carry on a normal conversation, a phone
call is probably the best option. However, I do get really
"wierded out" talking on the phone, so don't be surpised if I end up
saying more stupid things than I normally do. (which is indeed quite a
lot normally :) )
Anyway,
In other news,
Nathan (my 11 year old brother) called today from school 4 times
because he thought he had left his floppy disk with his powerpoint
presentation at home. So, my mom and I search high and low, all
around the house, but the green floppy disk was nowhere to be
found. Finally he calls the fourth time.
The green floppy disk was in his pocket.
Oh man, oh man! Oh, I love you Nathan! That is so typical Nafie. Hehehe.
Finally, here are some pictures from my amazing walk with Olive
yesterday on the top of the bluffs. Its been rainy and gross for
some time now, but for our walk, the clouds parted, and the sun shone
through. It was amazing.
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| Hooray for long walks through Hixon Forest with your dog!
i know those trails like the back of my hand. seriously.
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