Newspaper route

So my brother has a paper route. He is still finishing up getting his driver's license so we all take turns driving on occasion. This afternoon it was my turn.

My brother has Asperger syndrome. That's funny, spell check tries to correct Asperger. I'm surprised it's not in Google's dictionary; boiled down, it's a form of autism. Anyways, my brother is a genius at certain things... but like a lot of people diagnosed with Asperger's, he doesn't inherently understand a lot of non-verbal and "social" cues. A lot of people I've known with Asperger's tend to be very outgoing and will talk for hours if they can. However, for my brother, the opposite has happened over the years - he has slowly become more introverted and withdrawn from public circles and conversations. There are a few people he has learned to feel comfortable around if they continue to step forward and care about him and initiate relationship, but those people are relatively few and far between.

Anyways, so today I was driving Ben on the paper route. I have started noticing a pattern. As we get closer and closer to a house that has a dog he knows, Ben will become more and more contented and happy. It makes his day when the dog barks at him from inside the house, or (when they're outside) get excited when Ben is coming. Ben will take on an almost paternal air with the dog. He loves greeting them. It's really precious, actually, to see my giant of a little brother talking to and petting these dogs in our neighborhood. He is so excited when he learns one of their names. In fact, the entire route seems to center on the dogs.

I think, for him, it's a form of relationship he can trust. The dog will always treat him the same way, they will never show indifference or even ignore him. Because they initiate and are 100% consistent, Ben learns to respond with love and care. I love watching this; it touches my heart and makes for a very enjoyable afternoon.

So, even though the route is a bear, especially on the week-ends (2:30am arrival on Sundays!), I've really enjoyed watching Ben develop relationships with these creatures, and seeing him look forward to their brief interaction. It may not seem like much, but for a brother who doesn't have many friends, I think it may be the highlight of his average day... which makes it even more wonderful and precious to me as well.

Just a snippet into my life, today...