Week 3

Well, I'm a day behind in my updates on this blog, but things were a bit tiresome/crazy last night and today.

After a long day at a museum with my Grandma, I came home, napped for 20 minutes, and took off for Buddy Ball, much to the shock of my family. I guess they still don't realize how serious I am about this; my mom has even said she doesn't see me doing this next year "when I have a job," and my siblings are still cracking jokes about me and my buddies. :( Oh well.

I got to the bowling alley, and as usual, the air conditioner was broken. I'm beginning to suspect that it will only work the last week of bowling!! I signed in, and moseyed around to the other side of the alley, where all the kids were gathered. I'm not sure what I was expecting to see, maybe Ethan, but once again, he wasn't there. I ran into Tito, his mom, and his brother, and Tito gave me a big smile before running back with his mom. While I had fun with Tito and Raina last week, I still kind of wanted to buddy up with someone who needed a Buddy like Ethan or Bobby had! I went back to the sign in table and asked Ada (the organizer) if there were any kids without Buddies, and she walked with me as we checked one by one. No, no, no, no.

I was getting kind of disappointed, and I could tell Ada was feeling a bit disappointed too. Then, out of nowhere, I saw Bobby, the 8 year old Autistic bowling god from 2 weeks ago!!! I quickly asked if Bobby needed a Buddy, and his mom lit up. "Sure!! If you don't have anyone yet, that'd be great!!" Ada smiled at her response, and I walked away with Bobby and his mom, Jody. As Bobby was running ahead with his MGM logo (remember, he has an obsession with movie logos), Jody nervously turned to me and said, "He's really cranky today, and he just can't seem to shake it, I'm not sure why. If you don't want to be his Buddy, I understand." I smiled and told her it would be no problem, and I understood, everyone has off days.

Boy, was he having an off day.

The poor boy was upset, he couldn't stop whining and muttering words I couldn't understand. He didn't bowl his usual spare/strike combo that night, but he got a lot of 7's, 8's, and 9's. By the end of the 1st game, he was complaining he wanted to be done. Jake, the other Autistic boy we were bowling with, got upset when he heard this and, with the sweetest grin on his face, said, "Bobby, you're my FRIEND! We have ONE MORE GAME! YOU can WIN this time!!" This caught Bobby's attention, and he kept muttering "one more game" over and over. By the 3rd frame, not only did I have Jake giggling and high-fiving me, but I had Bobby holding my hand every time it was his turn, and having me hold his MGM logo. NOBODY, and I mean NOBODY, except his Mom is allowed to hold his MGM. To me, that was the highest point of the night. Bobby kept highfiving me throughout the night, and between his highfives and Jake's highfives, I was smiling at my boys the entire night.

At one point during the evening, when I got Bobby to laugh with me, Scott, Jake's dad, turned to Jody, smiled at me, and said, "I'm not sure who's the lucky one tonight-- Bobby or Kailynn." I just smiled and Jody smiled back at me. "Watch out Kailynn, you may get hooked!" she grinned.

I AM hooked, and nothing could change that. Bobby (and Jake) were lucky because they found a connection with each other, a place where nobody judges them, and lots of people who accept and love them no matter what. As for me, I found the way to form a human connection with these sweethearts who generally may not have had the opportunity to find someone outside of their family members who could show love and affection towards them.


This summer is undoubtedly changing my life for the better, and each week brings more smiles to my face. I can't wait to see what next week brings...