Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda

by Rebecca Einstein Schorr on 12 July 2012 @ 2:34 pm

Two weeks ago, Ben was safely delivered to camp by Warren with very little fanfare. It was, according to Warren, a very calm and successful experience. Ben is still there AND is having a fantastic time.

We think.

Because in the past fortnight, we have not heard one single word from him.
Not a letter. Or a postcard. A carrier pigeon or even a puff of smoke from a smoke signal.
Nothing.
Nada.
Zilch.
Efes.

On the one hand, the camp should make every kid sit and send some form of communication.
On the other hand, as my friend Tevye is wont to say, isn’t my curiosity about how he is doing being met some other way? And if so, why should this poor kid be forced to put pen to paper?

Each day, when I return empty-handed from the mail box, Lilly makes the following announcement:

Ben must be having such a great time and so much fun that he is too busy to write.

The photographs that are posted daily are proof of this. I scan the pictures with the same concentration I once used when reading love letters from Warren. Looking at each gesture, facial expression, experience. Trying to extract the emotions from the two dimensional image.

And what I see is someone who bears a strong physical resemblance to my son. Only this one is smiling. All the time. No traces of his typical anxiety appear on his face. And doing things that I have never thought he would attempt. In-line skating???

Would I like a letter from him? Sure. But if nothing arrives in the next two weeks, I really am OK with that too. As long as I can continue to watch from afar.

{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Irene 12 July 2012 @ 3:24 pm at 3:24 pm

That’s wonderful! I hope that feeling stays with him long after he returns home.

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2 Rebecca Einstein Schorr 13 July 2012 @ 9:44 am at 9:44 am

Keyn y’hi ratzon.

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3 Crys 12 July 2012 @ 3:26 pm at 3:26 pm

I love that picture of him! What a genuine smile!

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4 Rebecca Einstein Schorr 13 July 2012 @ 9:44 am at 9:44 am

My thoughts exactly. Not a posed picture but an actual representation of his emotions.

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5 Pamela Gottfried 12 July 2012 @ 3:59 pm at 3:59 pm

My kids are “forced” by the camp to submit letters to be mailed twice a week, and the camp has them send a first-day postcard listing their activities, counselors’ names, etc. Of course, since I work at camp and they letters are sent via USPS to their father, I never know anything! After we returned home, I learned from my son that he had thwarted the camp postal service by writing a letter and then “losing it” before it was mailed. He wants to check his bunk next summer to see if it fell between the bed and the wall.

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6 Rebecca Einstein Schorr 13 July 2012 @ 9:44 am at 9:44 am

Clever boy, your son.

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7 Sara 12 July 2012 @ 5:39 pm at 5:39 pm

Um, I’m still stuck on the “love letters from Warren statement”…that is beautiful. Oh, and I’m glad Ben is enjoying himself at camp 🙂

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8 Rebecca Einstein Schorr 13 July 2012 @ 9:46 am at 9:46 am

I have every single one he has written over the past twenty-four years.

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9 Robin from Israel 13 July 2012 @ 4:46 am at 4:46 am

He looks like he’s having a wonderful time, what a terrific experience for him.

I still remember my counselors forcibly sitting me down to write the required letters, not to mention the VERY disgruntled message I received from my parents instructing me to Write To My Grandparents IMMEDIATELY!

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10 Rebecca Einstein Schorr 13 July 2012 @ 9:47 am at 9:47 am

This is a camp for high-functioning autistic kids. I am thinking that they don’t push the writing thing because a lot of these kids have fine motor issues. Who knows. As long as I can see the pictures, I don’t care!!!

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