A few years ago, my family would travel to the beach for the holidays. The drive was a long seven hours and I still remember the feeling of fear I’d get every time we’d leave. I was scared that Joe, my brother with autism, would “explode” as we call it. But seven hours later, we were all safe at the beach. However, the trip was never all sunshine and rainbows. It was always a power struggle to get Joe out of the condo. All he wanted to do was play video games or practice card tricks. Once we finally got Joe to leave his room, he would spiral and spiral into worrying about little things that were so obscure that my parents would have to calm him down every time. However, after being out, he always enjoyed his time, and he realized he was stressing for no reason.

One distinct memory I have is when my dad was getting food for the week and it was just my mom, Joe and me at the condo. Joe was locked in his room playing video games and We started hearing this loud banging on the wall. I knew what was happening. After a few loud noises my mom asked Joe what was wrong, and he started to freak out because he couldn’t pass a level on his newest game. I stayed on the couch terrified of what would happen. He started hitting the wall harder and screaming at his game. My dad came back and was able to calm him down, but I was nervous the rest of the day.

Now my brother is twenty and is a sophomore in college. He was able to leave and be successful, which is the main goal of my mother. He came home over Thanksgiving break and he talked about how much he’s learning in his Calculus III class (and slightly bragging about how smart he sounds now.) I told him I was going to write about my experience with him during the holidays. As a family we all talked about our past memories and laughed. The four of us were sitting there and I realized how adjusted he has become. He has his group of friends at college and he has a job there. If you asked me if I thought he would be this successful away from our parents, I would have said no. However, it is like he is a whole new person with how he has matured and grown.

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