Unsung Heroes

I have written a lot about my Aspie because he has had a rough and emotional week. But we could not have made it through with our sanity if it had not been for another person in our life. This post is dedicated to all the other little people in our lives that have to live with Aspergers, even though they do not necessarily have the symptoms: Siblings.

LC is Connor's eight year old sister. She is beautiful, has a flair for the dramatic, and has an amazing ability to empathize. She gives the best hugs (well, top 3 anyway as I have three kids and am not picking a favorite). She cries when Connor starts screaming and slamming doors, but is the first to help out when her brother requires my attention. This week, she recognized that he was overly emotional, that it was justified, and that he needed Mom more than she did right then. She walks him to his class when they arrived at school. She takes care of her five year old sister when things get a little crazy around the house. Yesterday, Connor jammed his thumb (although from the way he screamed you would have thought the thumb had been forcibly removed from his hand). I ran to him, and when LC found out what had happened, she came back to the family room with an ice pack, ibuprofen, and Connor's favorite stuffed animal, all without being asked. Even at school, she is the one the teacher calls on to help the new students.

Their school principal once told me that my kids were too close for siblings (They were in Kindergarten and Second Grade at the time). Well, we have moved around a lot and they look after each other. They are friends too and I would not change that relationship for anything.

My husband says LC is the heart of our family. She is the middle child, and so she often has had to relinquish the attention to her baby sister or her brother. She rarely complains and she smiles easily. Don't get me wrong, she has an attitude that rears its ugly head every once in a while and a mouth to match. But even when I am sad or exhausted from the daily drama, she will come to me and snuggle and we talk about her for a while. She takes such good care of us, I only hope I am taking as good of care of her. She is my hero.