I was inspired to start this thread after reading ASdogGeek's blog and read about July being autism wandering awareness month. I am wondering if any of you have ever wandered or have your own stories. I will start with mine.
Two of the addresses I lived at as a child were surrounded by woods and I loved to wander in those woods. At one of the houses I followed a stream that started at the edge of our property and followed it deep into the woods until it came to a crumbling concrete dam that created a shallow pool, I would go wading in that pool. I never felt unsafe in the woods, I loved being in the woods by myself. It was beautiful and natural. I don't know if my parents knew about this. I never told them. Not because I didn't want them to know, but it was just something I didn't talk about.
My family was on vacation at Yellowstone when I was about 9. We were staying in a cabin. I had a camera and wanted to take pictures of bears. I got up early in the morning and followed a trail until I saw a bear and then followed to get closer but he was quickly out of sight. Disappointed, I headed back to the cabin and saw a bear straddling an overturned garbage container outside of our cabin searching for food.
I crept up until I was about 8 feet from him. He looked up at me, but then continued searching the garbage container. I snapped a picture, but was very disappointed later when I found out that I had my fingers over the lens of the camera and the picture did not turn out. I don't know if my parents knew about this, but I doubt they would have allowed me to do it. It wasn't until years later that I found out that bears could be dangerous.
Reading about the autistic children who perished while wandering made me wonder if they felt the same kind of happiness and peace that I felt when wandering in the woods by myself. It is so so sad that the lives of those beautiful, innocent children ended in such a tragic way.
03 Aug 2013, 12:06 am
