loves got everything to do with it

I forgot to share this sweet story of love and understanding while we were in Colorado. I have to start out with saying THANK YOU to our brother and sister and their kids for all they did for us and for their desire to love all of us so much. After the first day of being with our family in Colorado, our brother said something like "I can't tell the Rock is autistic." Autism has so many different faces, they say if you've met one person with autism you've met one. Then comes the next day, our brother kept saying the Rocks name to get him to play with him and of course he wouldn't after at least an hour of trying, our brother asked us "Why won't he look at me? Can he hear me? He looks at you guys." I looked at my brother and said "He can hear you, to the Rock you just don't exist. You are an object in the room. He doesn't understand that he can and should have a relationship with all people. The only way to get into his world is to play with him. Make him look at you while you play. You have to force yourself into his world." So our brother took the challenge! Heman and his brother spent the next 45min to an hour playing all of the Rock's favorite games and making him ask our brother for more if he wanted more playing (more is the most common word the Rock has). At the end of play time everyone was exhausted, it really is work for the Rock and everyone else involved. Our brother succeeded!! Shortly after play time was over our brother asked the Rock for "5" and the Rock slapped his hand. The bond of love was made forever, the Rock kept doing it the rest of our stay. Heman and I sat back in awe of the progress the Rock has made in such a short period of time and also in awe of the tremendous desire of love our brother had to make sure his nephew knew he loved him. Our sister of course never stopped waiting on us hand and foot, for which I will always feel guilty and appreciative of her sacrifice for us. All of our family everywhere is amazing and I never can share my deep appreciation with all of you enough. Hug someone near you and feel our love for you from them.