PHOTO: Mom Breaks Down To Tears After Snapping Pic Of Son’s Game… Look What She Saw

By: Ian Bayne on March 30, 2016

URL of the original posting site: http://conservativetribune.com/photo-mom-breaks

Nichole Zumbach Harken made a startling discovery about her son — and herself — when she attended the teenager’s football game on a Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t until after going over pictures, though, that she noticed that he wasn’t standing with the others on the team. He was apart and standing alone.

Tucker, who is 15 years old, is autistic. When he was in fifth grade he attended a study of high-functioning autistic children where he pointed out that he doesn’t have friends his own age.

In an essay posted on The Mighty, a website geared toward those with disabilities and their families, Zumbach Harken wrote about how this photo helped her learn about the way her son’s mind works, and how she found comfort in that. He might have been standing alone, but she knew he didn’t feel lonely.

“Oh, I have friends. Lots of them. My mom’s friends. The people that she works with really like me. Then I have my dad’s friends; I have all kinds of grownup friends,” Tucker said during the study.

He went on to tell the researcher how children his age didn’t seem interested in being his friend, and that he can better relate to adults. Adults just treated him as a kid. Kids treated him like someone who has been diagnosed with autism.

“The kids make fun of me behind my back when they think I can’t really hear them. I can tell they don’t really want to be my friend. They don’t choose to sit by me. They don’t include me in their parties. They don’t take the time to try to understand,” Tucker told his mother.

Children with autism and the parents who raise them face many challenges in this world. Tucker’s next words to the researcher proved he’s up to handling it.

“So, I decided to just be friends with grownups. Really it’s a lot easier. I know they will take the time to try to understand me. They will be kind to me. They will not make me feel sad. So, I just choose to be friends with grownups,” he said, according to Zumbach Harken’s essay.

The validation of Tucker’s words sank in at that moment when his mother gazed at the pictures of her son, completely happy and aware of who he was. Although she teared up, she eventually confessed that the picture no longer bothers her.

And it was because of what she heard while Tucker was being interviewed.

As she concluded in her essay:

“What a phenomenal experience — to hear your child accurately describe his difficulty with peer relationships is amazing and heartbreaking,” she wrote.

“He understands his experience. He was (and is) mature beyond his years – making the conscious choice to be with those who want to be with him and not worry about those who don’t.

“So, that picture above? It used to bother me – but it doesn’t anymore.

“I’ve realized that if it doesn’t bother Tucker, then it cannot bother me.

“Tucker has taught me so much about what it is important in life.

“Being with those who want to be with us… not worrying about those that don’t. 

“It took me 38 years to learn that; it took him 10.”

It’s a lesson many, many people never learn — no matter how far into adulthood they get.

H/T Mad World News