My HAPPY NORMAL LUCKY BOY!

This blog is very personal, it's about our son NICHOLAS JUDAH PRINCE,

who just graduated from North High School on May 19, 2016. A very impressive

milestone, and a very exciting time for us. But ... the pathway to this awesome

achievement was fraught with many trials ... and I'm writing about that tonight;
this is about "my journey" with my son, my experience raising him.

But this blog is dedicated to "Nick" and in his honor. He has come a long way,

and we are very proud of him. So, on with the tale . . . .

THE BEGINNING

Nicholas Judah Prince was born in Branson, MO ... July 6, 1998. He was born "naturally"

(not caesarean), but he was a BIG kid, weighing in over 9 pounds. He had to have a little

help coming out, as his shoulders were very wide. The local preacher commented that

we should be sure to enroll him in football when the time comes (which never happened,

but it was still a funny joke at the time).

Nicholas had a bout with jaundice at the start. But we believed God, and he was healed.

We opted out of all vaccines completely ... however, we are not too sure that someone

may have slipped him something, as we observed later that he had AUTISM. Don't have

any proof about that "someone", but we did wonder. Anyway, we loved our son just the

same. He seemed normal and healthy and we were happy.

While Nick was growing up, we then observed that he didn't talk. At all. He looked

and acted intelligent ... he didn't have any other developmental problems physically=

speaking, motor-skills etc. were all fine. He just didn't talk.

At age 4, he was playing around on my computer. He totally re-arranged the format

of my desktop! I could not figure out what exactly he did, and when I asked him, he

just laughed out loud!! That was the day that I realized, this boy is not just "special",

but highly imaginative, creative and intelligent.

We did not have him tested *at first* ... we just didn't trust anyone in the area where

we lived at the time. We began to homeschool Nick, and he seemed to especially enjoy

computers, and working with a program called "Color Phonics". We acquired quite

the curriculum from Lighthouse publishers, and homeschooled all our kids. We also
decided that we would trust Father God for direction for his education, and the
meeting of his "special needs".

THE MOVE

We, as a family, always believed that our true destiny, and location was somewhere

out WEST. Our girls were both gifted as artists, etc. and we were big into music and

ministry . . .  we believed that we would be more fulfilled in our callings in ... yep,

you guessed it ... ARIZONA.

We didn't just move. We waited. And waited. And waited. We wanted the timing to

be just right, and we wanted God to be in "the move".

One day, the specific circumstances in our lives had changed. Dramatically.
We (Renee & I)

were sitting on our front porch in Kansas, we looked at each other and, we both had

the same thought, at the same time. I said, "Why don't we rent a storage unit, put all our

stuff in it, and just move?" Boom. We were thinking the same idea. Renee said: "I was

just going to suggest that!" A friend gave us $500 ... we prayed. We heard one word, "Go!"
(Uh-huh. Another one of those "faith trips". Yeah, that's how it went down. Crazy.)
Preparations had to be made of course. And to get our 3 daughters and son in gear.

THEN ... we loaded up the van and moved to Beverly ... er, umm I mean Arizona.

THE ESCALATIONS

We ended up in Surprise, Arizona first. "Surprise!" Funny joke, but a real town.

Things weren't exactly smooth for us at first, getting settled and established. But

when we did, we started to get into a routine. It was Summer 2007, and we were

learning to get around in big old hot Phoenix. Nicholas started to have a "melt-down"

one time when we were heading into WalMart ... somebody said, "Ya know, they've

got medicine for that!" At this time, we still didn't know exactly what Nick's problem

was, but we were soon going to find out. We wanted to treat Nick as special, but not

"broken" or something "wierd". He didn't like going into stores ... too much stimuli.

He would look down at the tiles while walking inside. So, for a while, we could not

take him to the store a lot. That changed ... one day, I asked him if he wanted to go

and he said "Yes!" I had him hold onto the shopping cart and steer it. That was his job.

He liked that. Remember, this is the boy who "didn't talk" or at least, not very much.

He didn't say a complete sentence until he was 6 years old. We were at a church

meeting, he was downstairs with the kids. He was upset, came upstairs and blurted

out, "The big kids always take the toys!" Yeah. We were all shocked too. But that was

very revealing.

I became Nick's AID. "Aid" as in Nick's personal chauffer to school and back, and
anything else he needed to be, for support.
We enrolled all the kids at a very good school (at the time), a

charter school known as "Imagine". The prinicipal was very cool. He created a job

for Renee on the spot. I began to work for a film producer/video expert. Soon, a

whole battery of specialists and psychologists came to evaluate Nick. We all discovered

that he was "autistic, moderate to severe" with some 'retardation' (their words, not ours).

We accepted the autism thing, tried all we could to learn about the autistic spectrum etc.

But ... *sigh* . . . there were so many escalations. They were so frequent. Little things

would set Nicholas off. And emotions were heightened, so little things were "big things"

to Nick. I also learned how to restrain  him, when it was necessary to do so. Several

times in fact ... once in a store, and once on the city bus.

We chose not to drug our son. The school was good for him, he had a great teacher,

Ms. April Gardner. I do not know how she accomplished this feat, but she taught him

how to read. He was in the fourth grade by now. He could read. He could express

himself. BUT ... I want to underline just how painful it was for me.  During the years

that I conducted him to and fro school, there were uncaring people who just didn't

seem to accept Nick, and they didn't understand his "special needs". I loved and love

Nick. I enjoyed him, and never complained about taking care of him. One time, at

a different church, I had to leave him in a special room. Of course, I was feeling down

because of all the "judging" around me, I felt nearly every day. This one precious young

lady came up to me and said,
"You must be a wonderful father to have a special son like that!"

Wow, lady. You made my day. And I was crying on the inside.

THE CHANGE

I had to remove Nick from this one charter school and take him to another.

I thought it was going to be a better experience, but it was a greater trial.

The administrator, though she claimed to be a "tongue-talking christian",

she didn't really understand Nick, or accept his disability. She wondered

why I didn't have an entourage of specialists in his trail, like these other

"special" kids had. I said No. Don't think so. Nick is autistic. She even

tried to have him expelled, suspended etc for his "behavior". I got pissed

off one time, and pulled him out, and drove him home. That was a winter

break, so it was okay. But I didn't come back. She finally called me and

said they have funding to work with Nick's "special needs" and they even

taught the teacher how to train him, and how to handle his escalations.

Nick got out of there in one piece. He was ready for junior high.

When the time came, I enrolled him in Herrera Jr. High. It was perfect

for him. His escalations became lesser, and he excelled at his classes.

He was much calmer. I enjoyed the time he spent at Herrera. He also

graduated from there, with honors.

That very special day arrived, when everything CHANGED. We were

at a bus stop, waiting on Valley Metro to take us home, and there was

this very old Japanese lady sitting there. She noticed Nick, and how I

acted "nervous" at the time, because Nick didn't really get "personal space".

LOL

I will never forget what she said. She spoke up and said these words:

"Never apologize for your son. From now on, you call him your 'happy-

normal- lucky-boy!" I could not argue with this wise woman. I simply

replied, "Yes. Yes Ma'am!"

And that was the catalyst; the power to see Nick become everything

he was meant to be. I didn't HAVE to apologize or explain "Nick" to anybody ...

I didn't have to see Nick as anything but a very special, yes, but dynamic kid.

Young man. My son. And I am so very proud of him.

COMMENCE TO START

Nick went onto North High School. They told us that they had the better

"SPED" program for him. Turns out, they also had fantastic teachers. Yeah,

we opted to have him in "public/charter" schools, it worked out great. He

has been a straight "A" student. He is a math whiz. He loves computers.

He loves gaming. And his blue-tooth headphones plugged into his phone/tablet

where he listens to his favorite EDM. He is a movie-aficianado; he can tell you

most names of voice-over actors. Oh, my he is so smart. And funny! He always

kept his fellow students and teachers in plenty of laughter. Oh, yeah ... there

are also the days when he gets to "dress professionally" for his business class

at Metro Tech. Seems like a lot of kids knew who Nick was, or they had a class

with him. One kid said, "Oh yeah, I know him! He's good!" (Art class).
Today Nick is what one would consider "higher-functioning" in the autism spectrum.
Some people see this autism as a disability. Others have commented that it
may be a "different way of thinking". Nick is well-aware of the autism, he often
"fights" it, and he catches himself when he gets upset, and he apologizes if he
thinks he did something wrong. He is a good kid. And he works hard, and
expresses himself fairly well these days. We don't treat him like he's "different".
We just love him. And it works well for us.

NOW ... Nicholas has grown up, he is 17, and he has officially graduated from

North High School, Phoenix AZ.  I was so excited to go to his graduation, there

was nothing like it, in all my experience. But here ... is the best part. I had Nick

place his cap & gown in his backpack, so that when he arrived to the Coliseum

(the venue of the commencement), he could put it on inside, and not have to

wear the thing all the way there. When he was done, got his diploma, we picked

him up, because we had to go to a celebration in his honor. When we were walking

in the parking lot to the car, I asked him where his backpack was (thinking he may

have left it or forgot it) ... He said, "I put it on my back under the gown!"

Brilliant. Simply brilliant. He then gets to the car, and takes off the cap & gown, and

there he is in his street clothes. Go Nick. You Rock. You are the Happy Normal Lucky Boy!

And you shine forevermore.

WE LOVE YOU. 

 

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GOD BLESS YOU.