A Retreat in New Hampshire

I woke up on the last Sunday of June with my brother Cam taking me to the Kansas City airport and caught my plane to Baltimore, where I read some of Water Touching Stone to pass the time. At the Baltimore airport, I got a Rolling Stone special issue on Michael Jackson (a man I’ve heard to be autistic) and an Essence magazine special issue on Maya Angelou. I also enjoyed an Arby’s brisket sandwich for lunch. I made it to New Hampshire where I met my grandmom and my mom and we drove down to the cabin in Mirror Lake where my mom and Dave, Uncle Andy and Aunt Marge, and I would stay. I met my mom’s cousin Rich there and got two new bottle caps for my collection from the drinks we got there. Later Dave and I canoed across Mirror Lake to the house where my grandmom, Uncle John and Aunt Nin were staying, where we enjoyed some kebabs cooked in Cajun spices cooked by my Uncle John. 

                The next day I went to Sandy Beach with my mom, Dave, Uncle Andy, Aunt Marge, Uncle Kurt and Aunt Barb and their children Kyley and Hunter, who I played with on the beach. When I got back, I found in my Lonely Planet West Africa book a festival in the Gambia that commemorates the countries slave heritage with music workshops, parades, and performances, a way I felt was good for Buddhists like me (assuming they, or I, have the money) to bear witness to people’s suffering. Later we all had salmon together while I got a new bottle cap from my drink and from Uncle Kurt and Uncle Rich. Then we all went and got ice cream together while I realized I might like to do a book of quotes from famous people with autism. 

                The next day I climbed Mt. Washington four an exhausting four hours with Mom, Dave, Uncle Kurt, Uncle John, Aunt Nini, Uncle Andy, Aunt Marge, and Uncle Rich. I saw two or three different kinds of birds, one of which I got a picture of, and a unique frog, which I also got a picture of. At the top I bought some Wonka gobstoppers, of mints. Then I saw a couple kiss and thought it was a nice thing to see. After that I got a bracelet made from parachute cord. I also made some paper airplanes from hot dog trays, which I realized I could give to Kyley and Hunter. On our way to dinner, I realized I may have enough time in my life to take several trips to a lot of the different African countries and spend a week or so absorbing some of the various places like Ouagadougou, Dakar, the Adrar, and elsewhere. We ate dinner at a pizza place where I saw a girl hug a guy and remembered what it felt like to be hugged by a girl like that, which I hadn’t felt for a long time, and decided I would experience that joy once more. I was also cut short from working on my travel plans to West Africa because of the moths everywhere, during which I spilled my beer in the dark after turning off all the lights planning to go to my room.

                The next morning, I started scooping up the bugs for the windowsills. Then I went with Mom and Dave to meet Uncle Andy, Aunt Marge, Uncle Kurt, Aunt Barb, Kyley, Hunter, Uncle John, Aunt Nini, Nannie, Uncle Rich, and Aunt Dixie down at Sandy Beach where I played with Hunter and lounged in a tube with a beer from where I got a new bottle cap, and we stayed there until it started to rain. When we got back, I scooped up all the dead bugs. Then I went with Nannie, Aunt Nini, and Aunt Dixie to an antique shop. Afterwards we ate steak at Uncle Kurt and Aunt Barb’s house where Aunt Nini gave me a new bottle cap, I made two bracelets for Kyley, and played with Kyley and Hunter.

                The next morning read until I paddle- boated into the center of the lake, joined halfway by Mom and met the rest of the family including Mom’s cousin Andy and his son, Morgan. We all had dinner later at the Wolfsboro Inn, before going out to ice cream. When I got back to the house I talked to Tyler, who told me how he had gone on a date with an actress friend of his.

                “Well, that’s good,” I said. 

  “But I want to find a girl who shares my pain,” he said.

                “Do you mean has special needs?” I asked.

                “Yes!” he said.

                “Tyler, that doesn’t matter too much. A girl could be good for you regardless of whether or not she has special needs.”

                But I knew exactly how Tyler felt. We would find a girl who was a true supporter of disabled people like ourselves, who could understand our struggles. Having the most beautiful or popular girl could not possibly replace having a girl who supported me through the struggle.

             I read some more of my Lonely Planet book when I heard my mom, sitting at her computer say, “Ben, guess what?”

                “What?”

                “Your friend, Ian Sneid: he’s going to UCM next year!”

                My heart leapt. 

                “That’s great!”

                The next day I went with my mom into town where I went to the Country Book Seller and got Buddhist Boot Camp and Lonely Planet Guides to China and Germany (the former because I accidentally tore a page in it). Then I got a chocolate and caramel covered cookie in a candy store next to the bookstore. On our way back home, my mom said she thought it was a good idea for me to do my autism books and told me that the Autism Asperger Publishing Company is in the Kansas City area. 

                When I got back, I read a lot more of Buddhist Boot Camp. We went over to Aunt Nini’s and Uncle John’s house where I read it some more, found another Snapple cap, got a new bottle cap, and realized that even if we spent more on autistic people by providing them services, the fact is statistically we commit less crime so in ways, we will always spend less on autistic people. That night it rained so the Wolfsboro Fourth of July parade was postponed until the next day. 

                The next day my mom, Dave, Uncle Kurt, Aunt Barb, Kyley, and Hunter saw the fourth of July parade before going to the airport and making our way home, with Kyley giving me a small friendship bracelet before we left. At the first airport I looked on my Facebook on my phone and found out I had been invited to the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network Kansas City chapter’s July meeting at the Plaza Library on the 21^st, and thought I ought to go. On the ride back, in which Jamie drove us home, I talked to Tyler, who called earlier that day. When I got home, I called Hen House and found out I was scheduled for the next Friday from 4-7.