Autism & Seeing Things Differently

This afternoon my husband gave the lawn the first cut of the year, revealing a winter's worth of dog turds buried beneath the grass.  That a small dog has such an productive colon was nothing short of  admirable.  I spent an hour cleaning up the mess, delighted to be outside doing something purposeful.

This gave me pause for thought.

It was quite a revelation to realise I was happy to be a shit shoveller. 

It won't look great on my CV, but that seems to be where my life's at right now.

It's safe to say that covid has changed our perspectives.

A little over a year ago, I would have spent Saturday hanging out with friends, shopping or visiting family. 

Now I'm excited about dog shit.

This made me wonder about how I valued life pre-covid. 

I miss my friends and family desperately, but I definitely wasted too much time mindlessly chasing pointless stuff I didn't even want.  The pandemic has been a blunt education, and I'm a very slow learner.

Meanwhile, Finian adjusted his own perspective with little drama.  We explained the restrictions to him, he said OK, and that was that.

He accepts how the world operates now, although allows himself the odd complaint about missing out on kiddie rides (never mind that he's 6ft 2 and about 10 years too old for them).

It's humbling to be schooled by an autistic kid.

"just change your focus already"

Canine crap is an unexpected source of inspiration.  I doubt poems will ever be written about it.  

But there's peace to be found in caring for your own home that can't be found in a shopping mall.