We came, we saw, we left without incident

What’s the Latin for that one?

Bede was pumped about the movie. Before we left, I wrote our telephone number on his back in Sharpie, just in case we got separated. You never know, and he can’t communicate well enough to convey that sort of information.

We pulled into the mall lot and he was vibrating with excitement. He saw the poster as we approached the theater and I let him break loose and go jump up and down in front of it and hum as he chanted the character names and peered through his fingers.

We were getting some looks by this point but so what. He was so happy. Most of the looks were for his unusual, ah, behaviour, but some of them were no doubt due to his clothes: a big red tee shirt, men’s trousers cinched in at the waist and rolled up, blue Crocs, all topped off with an enormous brown hat with a tan brim – his “Scrat acorn hat” he requested I knit for him.

An older woman approached us and said “Is he autistic?”

I resisted my momentary contrarian impulse to say “No” (hee hee) and smiled instead. “Yes, he’s autistic. He loves the Ice Age movies, and this is the first time he’s ever been to a theater, too.”

She said “Oh! I thought he was. I’m a substitute teacher and I just love working with autistic children.”

I smiled and started to guide Bede toward the ticket booth. She said, to Bede, “You are the most beautiful boy I’ve ever seen!” and we parted ways. When we got to the line, a nice man offered to let us cut, and we bought our tickets and headed back to the theater.

The auditorium was dark and the previews were playing VERY LOUDLY when we came in. Bede was a bit taken aback by the darkness and the noise, but came in and we sat fairly close to the front. “You want some turn it down?” he asked me. I said it was loud, but it might get quieter (it did.)

He was rapt throughout, humming and bouncing a few times, but mostly quiet and still. He hid behind the seat in front of us when it was scary, or peeked through his hat. As the movie was wrapping up he said “Ice Age is The End” and smiled.

Then, we left.

Whew! Yay Bede!

12 thoughts on “We came, we saw, we left without incident

  1. Yay!!! I tell you, and mean, that I know what you mean. Love ya’ll!
    (I have an Ice Age poster for him, that we picked up when we saw the movie)

  2. What a fantastic memory for you both! Loved this:
    “He hid behind the seat in front of us when it was scary” because my oldest does that too. So very, very happy that it went well.

  3. The older woman’s comment brought tears to my eyes. I can’t decide if I’m a sap or if it’s sad that a stranger’s kindness is enough to make me tear up.

    I’m glad it went well! Yay Bede! Yay Ice Age!

  4. i was sure you guys would have had to see it at least one more time. for us, when things are at “the end” it doesn’t usually go over that well.

    i loved your description of bede’s scared/excitement. it is a slightly exaggerated version of how i feel sometimes.

    k-)

  5. Wow! Fun! I’m so glad he loved it like he did. And the whole event sounded smooth as warm butter. Good fun! 🙂

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