Dear Sept,
This is a big day, and not just because this is your first day of school.
I’d decided to spend the day writing. I had the house to myself. I had my editor on my case. Our savings are scraping the bottom of the barrel, and bills are coming due, and I have a growing list of things I want to buy for you: an art kit, a chess set, maybe a chemistry set, and definitely a violin, if we can ever afford it. So my plan was to knock out five chapters today.
Before I got started, while my mind was warming up to the rhythm of words, I thought I’d do another search. Just in case anybody was posting anything that might be of interest to us.
For the heck of it, I decided to do a search using words you’d taught me. Squeegee, of course, brought up cleaning supplies.
The next word I tried was bizoopagoto.
And there it was: top search item. Staring me in the face.
Forum for Participants in H9110 (Extended Jury Duty)
http://bizoopagoto.forumotion.com/
Hot damn!
Sure enough. A complete forum. For us.
I read the Forum Rules and Guidelines carefully.
And the rush of feelings just about broke me.
Support. A safe place for us. Searching for answers. Everyone can talk freely and feel supported. Possibilities, issues, and challenges.
Hot damn, yes.
This was what we’d been searching for.
Needless to say, I didn’t get any chapters written today.
I spent the whole time reading posts on the forum.
There weren’t many. It seems that the forum had just been created a few days before. There were only a handful of members.
But each one was posted by someone like me, with a kid like you, looking for someone that might just understand them and help them feel not so alone.
When I read a post from a parent asking for help communicating, I felt impelled to reply.
I created an account for myself.
I replied to that post. I made a few posts of my own. I shared what you’d taught me about your language. I offered a few ideas about how to be open to the type of visual-imagery you use to enhance your communication.
Just as I was getting ready to sign out and get to work on my book, a message popped up in my forum inbox.
Be sure to tell your son.
Oh, God. It hit me right then. I can tell you. All these years when we’ve been looking for your siblings–and here they are, living with other mothers and fathers who are caring for them, trying their best, and feeling very alone.
Sept, we are not alone anymore. None of us. We’ve found your bizoopagotogo.
I can’t wait for you to come home from school so I can tell you.
With love and gratitude for the benevolence of this friendly universe,
Your dad
Author’s Notes: Yes! We really do have a forum! I think I mentioned that this was part of a collab (and we’d love to have you join us, by the way!) Well, the brilliant and endlessly creative Charliimai really did create a forum for us: http://bizoopagoto.forumotion.com/
Many thanks to Charliimai and to the others whose posts I’ve used here: Rainydayz (SynceFrk42) and allysimbuilds (CodyMcTesterson8)
Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology 