The Big, Little and In-Between Things!

It is so easy to get caught up in life and the things happening around us, that we forget to watch for things that are so important.
We tend to think that something is so small, or insignificant, that its irrelevant, or sometimes, we rely on the "bigger things" so much, that we take them for granted.
Discovering that I have Aspergers has been a, ironically, nice thing. It has opened, not just my eyes, by the eyes of those who know and love me to so many things.
The people who know and love me, now understand me in ways that they never had before, and it has made a huge difference for the better.
I know I have been very blessed with this experience, as things could have not turned out quite as well as they have so far.
Rather than understanding, I could have received pity instead. I also could have had people alienate me further.
So far, the only person whom I am aware of, that has felt pity for me, is me. Although that has past, now that I understand more about not just who and what I am, but how much of that is influenced by having AS.
So having said all that, I would like to make honorable mention to the one person who has stood by me the most. The one person who could have left and chose to stay, knowing that there would be no guarantees that there would be anything to gain by staying.
My wife.
I have never considered myself a poet. In fact, to be honest with you, if you were to ask me to sit down and write a poem, I really would have a great difficulty doing it. I dont know why, I understand the concepts of poems, and in high school, I received no less than B's in areas of poetry, but creating a poem is just something that doesn't seem to flow from me naturally. Except on rare occasions, when for some unknown reason, one will just, "hit" me.
Like this one.

EVERYTHING

She does not look at me, with condescending eyes.
She doesn't hold it against me, that I am not like other guys.
Yes, she thinks I'm strange, and sometimes weird indeed.
But in spite of all these things, she still loves me for me.
I know at times I have tried her patience, no doubt to the very end.
Yet, through it all she remains, my very closest friend.
She knows all of my weaknesses, and every fault I have.
Some of which I am sure, drives her very mad.
My wife is so important to me, for so many reasons.
Without her in my life, I would not want to last a season.
No, she isn't perfect, but its close enough to me.
My only prayer is that I can be, what she has been to me.
Everything.

A Holiday Wish!

I just wanted to wish everyone, Happiest Holidays!
I know that for many, this year has been a really rough one, with our economy being what it is.
I do hope, that in spite of all of that, you can still see the things that make your lives so rich!
My wife and I will not be buying gifts for each other this year, so that our children will have at least an average Christmas.
That is fine with us. A hard pill to swallow, yes! But we know that we will manage some how.
The important thing, is that we stick together, and go thru it, together.
We've been through many rough patches before, and we have always come out stronger in the end for it.
We are stronger than our situation, and we know it.
So for those of you, who are in similar "boats"....know that you too can be stronger than your situation. Doesn't mean things will be easier. It just means you already know that, when it all is over, your gonna be the ones on top!
And with that........
Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!!!

Misreading Social Cues....are you sure?

This is actually a re-post of an article that I originally wrote on Wrongplanet.net. I wrote this before I had created this blog, and after changing my setting on Wrongplanet to link to here, I could no longer find the blog on Wrongplanet.
Anyways, I finally found it again, but it was so "hidden", i decided to re-post it for those of you who follow my blog.

Misreading social cues.....are you sure?
posted at 05:21 am on 09-15-2008

Well, I suppose it would only be appropriate to start off by saying that, I am not good with the "chitter-chatter" stuff, so I'll just get straight to the point.
I've been reading a lot since I found out about AS, and have noted that, it is the general consensus that, Aspies have problems understanding social cues.
Personally, I think this is erroneous, at least, for me it seems to be.
Not because I don't have issues with social cues, I do, but its not that I am missing them, but rather I am not receiving enough of them.
This "theory" came to be, when celebrating my wife 32nd birthday, we went out to a local restaurant with some friends. My wife's girlfriend brought a date with her. He was not aware of the fact that I have AS, or what it means to have AS.
As the course of the evening went on, during our various discourses, our friend's date, would, in my opinion, seem to mock me regarding things I said, and/or did. He was not cruel, nor do I believe his intentions were to be cruel, but rather, (and I think this might be an NT thing), an attempt on his part to feel less awkward, by using sarcasm, and "teasing humor" to set the tone of the evening.
After the evening was over I questioned my wife about this, and she confirmed he was indeed teasing me over the social cues that I "missed", but that his intentions were harmless.
At this point, I realized that, I had not missed the cues at all, as I did believed that he was teasing me. HOWEVER, not having enough evidence to prove this, I IGNORED the cues, (for the time being), and continued my conversations as if they had not been given, watching for further cues, hoping I would eventually get enough of them to make a "correct and informed decision".
Are you like me, in the fact that, rather than "guess" at a social cue, even though you are most likely correct, you choose instead to try to find more "proof" that the cue is indeed what you thought it was?
Or is this just a "me" thing?
On a footnote, I am doing something I rarely do, by "guessing" that this is NOT just a "me" thing, because, from what I have read, Aspies tend to, as my wife puts it, "Have to be right".
What do you guys think?