Many of you know about Sean and Rocky's story.  You may have read about
how healing Rocky has been for Sean and how he helped him break though
the walls of autism.  And you may have read some really cute things about
Sean growing up with Rocky too.
 
One time in a FML, I wrote about how Sean said to me out of the blue:
"Mom, what are ferrets made out of"..... and then replying before I could
answer, "I know, they're made out of God".  What I didn't go into was how
monumental this was for us.  Autistics sometimes never grasp anything
that is not tangible, or anything vague.  For others, it can be a hard
task at the very least.  I remember when Sean was small, nonverbal, and
very unemotional.  A clergy came in to speak at a local support group
for autism.  I remember thinking it was a complete waste of my time.  My
son wouldn't acknowledge that he had a brother at the time let alone if
there was a God.  I thought even if God himself waved a magic wand, that
thinking about him having such capability was asking far too much.
 
Well, I was wrong about everything.  I was wrong about Sean.  He did
miraculously improve.  And he did so with the help of a little ferret
named Rocky.  Today, he is almost all caught up, and unless you spent a
lot of time with him, you'd never know anything was "off" with him at
all. :)  I was even wrong to dare hope that Sean could ever understand
"God".
 
What amazed me most of all about his sudden statement about God and
ferrets in the car, was that Sean was never brought to church.  And I
never tried to teach something so complex to him as religion.  I just
wanted the kiddo to understand what basic emotions were at the time.  Yet
he somehow not only brought it up and asked questions, he answered them
appropriately on his own.  Later on his questions got more detailed.  It
seemed to open a whole floodgate of questioning.  Somehow though, he
always tied them into ferrets.
 
So you see, it was a tiny little ferret that helped my son learn about
God.  Just when I thought I had seen it all with Sean.  Just when I
thought I saw it all, when this same little ferret helped him break the
language and social barriers his autism put up, I saw more.  I saw Sean's
world open up to the heavens.
 
Wolfy
[Posted in FML issue 4253]