Changing My Life

Everybody wants to do something to contribute to changing the world, do something to change a life, make some sort of impact. For everyone I am sure that the way they want to contribute is different than their neighbors, but nonetheless every single human being wants to feel important.

This here, this is Evan Moore. I watch him every day after school. He is fourteen, is severely autistic and cant really communicate with more than a grunt, he wears a diaper and I have pretty much potty trained him in the last nine months that I have worked with him. He is a good kid, now that I am his person, his routine. 

Going in to this I hadn't a clue what I was walking into, I had never worked with anyone with special needs until Evan and I was kind of thrown into it. I decided to do it, however, because I knew his mom needed someone and I didn't have a job of any kind at the time, and I felt like this is one more way of making an impact in this world, changing the world one person at a time kind of thing. 

Little did I know, Evan changed my life just as much as I changed his. I knew that he needed me, but I didn't realize that I needed him to be in my life. Evan and I have had some pretty tough times, scratches, bites, scars, and all, but as a whole we have bonded in a way that I never knew possible.

Working with Evan has taught me patience I didn't even know was attainable. Everyday is different with him, some happy, some tired, some angry, and some livid, but I have learned to read him enough to keep him calm. Altogether, though, Evan has showed me how important the little things in life are, being able to speak, use a toilet, change my clothes. There have been many, MANY, days that I just want to give up, but then I am with Evan and I have a reason to keep going. His need for me, for the basic daily things, is a major motivator because if I am gone he doesn't have anyone to be his person.

This is why it is killing me to stop working with him, I have seen so much growth in him that has inspired me that its so hard to just stop when he has so far to go. I don't want to lose contact with him completely, but I know that it just isn't healthy to work myself so much everyday and I am always going to be around if his mom needs a sitter.

Evan is my best friend, I spend every day hanging out with him and I am grateful for every moment that I have had with him over the last several months.

When you think you're changing someones life you never realize that they are really changing your life.