My husband had just left to drive the monkey around for the zillionth time today. My husband never minds doing this. He will be busy working on the house, the monkey comes over and asks for a drive, and he simply stops and takes him. He always says that the monkey doesn’t ask for much, so the little that he does ask, we try to accommodate. Specially if it helps to decompress.

My daughter is the same. She will tell us she has a lot of homework or needs to study for a test. But when she sees that he wants a ride, she always volunteers to take him. She knows how much this helps her brother, and she is always willing to stop what she is doing, to help him out. She is so sweet and patient with her brother.

As my husband left with the monkey, I moved to the sofa to continue working. From the window I can see the street. I heard our neighbor drive up in their mini-van, by pass my house, head over to my other neighbor’s house. The grandkids got out and delivered an invite for a ‘Drive thru” birthday celebration.

And I lost it. I broke inside. My son doesn’t care about these things. He is oblivious if he gets invited.

But I do care.
I do understand.

And the fact that she bypassed our house to go over to my other neighbors, it just broke me.

Add this to the mental list of many times my son gets overlooked due to his disability.

And as I am sitting here on my sofa, I felt so lonely. So sad. Overlooked. Un-wanted. Not accepted.

It makes no sense. It is just a ‘Drive thru party’ for a toddler. My son doesn’t even acknowledge nor understand these things. He may not even want to drive around our neighborhood honking. He will probably hate it and want us to stop and come home.

So why am I taking this so hard?

Because I want him to be accepted. Because I want him to be invited. It is irrelevant if he understands. He should still be treated as any other typical kid.

I have talked to my neighbor so much about our son. About his setbacks and his accomplishments, and she always seems so in tune, so part of the conversation and genuinely caring. Which is why this hurt so much more.

And as I am drowning in my sorrows, the grand kids run up to my door, ring the doorbell, and stick our invitation to my door.

My emotions simply got the best of me. And I didn’t give my neighbors the benefit of the doubt.

He is invited. ❤️