I remember my wife’s first Mother’s Day vividly. Clay’s older brother, our first child, was about eight months old, and he had a fever. I stayed home with him, while my wife visited her mother. The little guy did not want to be put down, so I spent a long afternoon wandering the house carrying him, talking to him and feeding him liquid acetaminophen at appropriate intervals. When my wife came home around dinner time, she took him from me, and he promptly vomited all over her. Welcome to motherhood. That became the yardstick by which we have measured all subsequent Mother’s Days. (“At least no one threw up on me.”) Until this year.
Now that Clay is using a keyboard to communicate with us after five years of silence, this Mother’s Day brought something new.
Late Sunday afternoon my wife asked Clay if he had anything he wanted to say. Yes, he did.
That was followed by this exchange.
Top that, Hallmark.
Life With Clay 
#1 by Juliette on May 11, 2010 - 9:11 pm
I am weeping profusely right now. I cannot get over how quickly he has learned to communicate. Last time we spoke, it was “I want juice” now it’s this. I am speechless right now. (Perhaps I need FC) (: This is so special and beautiful, you must be so proud and so happy and relieved and overjoyed! Thank you Clay for being so brave and trusting during the years of silence and for proving to the world that you and your brothers and sisters with autism are incredibly intelligent and extraordinarily sensitive. I am so proud to know you!
#2 by Rick Vernaci on May 24, 2013 - 4:06 pm
That video was sweet. Everyone can take a bow.