Reconnection

This past week my youngest son and I had the chance to reconnect with his half sister. She and her family came down from Indiana to visit her family and her mother called me to tell me they were in town. I told her mother that we would love to see them and meet her husband and son. I was a bit nervous before the meeting due to it having been so long since I had seen her. The last time I had seen her, she must have been maybe 12 years old. Her father and I divorced so I wasn't really allowed to be in her life after that. My son continued to visit with his father but after awhile, his father didn't seem too interested in being his father anymore. She seems happy and content with her life and she looked great. She is 21 now and married with a son. Her son is 9 months old and he is crawling and he is adorable. I was able to hold him and talk to him while we visited. 

My son was super excited to visit with his sister. He even brought her a stuffed animal and we picked up his nephew a stuffed dinosaur. He talked to her while we were there and played video games. I got a couple of photos of them before we left. My son has asked me do I think her child will be autistic and I said you don't really know until a child gets to be about two. Then I told him about some of the things that I noticed with him when he was younger before he was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. 

She spoke of her father and she said that he never wanted her. She said he wanted a son but he didn't get the son he wanted and I finished her sentence and said, yeah because he has autism. That statement has rocked me to my core. I always knew this but had never voiced it and to hear her say it, made me so sad. Sad for her and my son because I am sure they are hurting and it has to hurt to have a parent that walks away without even an explanation. I told her that my son had a hard time after his dad walked away and I had to tell him that I was not leaving and that I loved him and my home was a safe space for him and that is why God gives you two parents, so that when one of your parents is going through grown up issues that have nothing to do with you, the other parent picks up the slack. She told me about trying to get her father to be involved with her more since she was going to have a baby and that the baby would be his grandson but it didn't work out. 

All in all it was great to see her and I am happy my son was able to visit with his sister.  I gave her the biggest hug when we left and told her how great it was to see her.