Milestones

This weekend, Logan had his first chess tournament. The first of many to come, I hope. He had five matches, and went 1-4. The record doesn't matter though. The fact he wanted to go, and saw it through to the medal ceremony was huge to me. But something else happened there, that while I knew he could do it, and had been doing it, that I got to see for the first time.

Six years ago, Logan started at Step by Step Academy. He was a much different child back then. Not very verbal, very aggressive, and didn't show any kind of affection. Basically, in his own world. After getting on virtually every single waitlist we could find, We finally got accepted by Step by Step. Melissa worked tirelessly to get him in somewhere, so we could try and get him out of his world, and begin the move to ours.

Over the years, so many people have worked with him, got him to open up, and generally get him to the point he's at today. They deserve so much of the credit of allowing him to be in a regular school, as they helped him, and us, achieve that goal.

What I saw, getting back to the first paragraph, was him wanting to go outside to play. The tournament was at a church on the east side. Outside the room that was set aside for his school's team, was a playset with a slide, rope, swing, etc. There was some time between his last match and the medal ceremony. He wanted to go out and play. I watched him for a bit. Watching him run around, playing tag, and just chasing other kids (as well as being chased), almost made me cry. Just to watch him do that, made everything that we did at SBSA worth it. That few minutes watching him play was some of the most amazing minutes of my life.

He's one awesome kid, and I'm humbled to be his father and dad. I'm sure Melissa was smiling down as well, and would be as proud, if not prouder, than I am of him.

I love you, Logan....

Funny things in life

There are times that I just want to crawl into a hole. Notwithstanding the fact I haven't posted in eight months, but with all of the bad news, and oil prices and other things, it sometimes just doesn't pay to get out of bed in the morning. If it wasn't for the the fact that I need to make money, I"d stay in bed all day.

I've been a busy little beaver as of late. Since my lost post on this particular blog, we've been down (state closing Step by Step), to highs (Federal Court blocking state, and the opening of a new, larger Step by Step that can help more children with Autism). I feel good each time I step into one of the buildings and do the smallest thing for the center. These kids need all the help they can get, and I'm so glad I can help in the smallest way.

I've also purchased a new computer. That's right, I got rid of my Windows Vista machine and got myself an XP Pro computer. Oh the joys of reliability. I've been also working hard on learning Windows 2003/8 server so I can increase my knowledge and skill.

I've been lax on posting here, and need to do better. As time permits, and the muse strikes, I shall post here. I post more often on Logan's Laughter, my blog about my son Logan.