The other day I was at the pool swimming my laps. It was late in the evening but I wanted to get some exercise in before I turned in for the night. I can usually isolate pretty effectively with my goggles and my swim cap on and get my laps done without any interruptions.

This night was different. I swam a couple of laps and then stopped on the edge of the pool. I noticed a little boy two lanes over who was looking at me. “You are first place, my sister is second and I am third. We get a chocolate cake!” He said with excitement.

I giggled because that was just about the cutest thing I had heard in a very long time. He wanted to race again. So I raced him again making sure I kept an eye on him so that he could win. At the end of that lap he said we would get “two chocolate cakes.” We continued to race with him exclaiming that we would get either chocolate cake or ice cream cakes at the end of each lap.

This wonderful child didn’t really care who won. His joy was in the idea that there could possibly be cake involved for all of us, even if it was an imaginary cake.

After a couple of laps I saw his mother walk up to the edge of the pool. “Your son is very engaging.” I said in between giggles. I found him to be most delightful. She thanked me and said he had a form of Autism which caused him not to have appropriate boundaries. I thought if more children were like him, this world would be so much better than it is. As we were talking I felt his little hands encircle my waist and he was giving me the sweetest hug ever.

The mother kept thanking me for being so kind to her son. Believe me it was the easiest thing I have ever done. He was adorable.

I learned something about Autism that night. I learned there are different kinds. Some Autistic children tend to not engage and others tend to engage more than is commonly accepted. I kind of suspect that this little boy may have had a very unique form of autism. I suspect he was more an angel than a little boy and I had just received a hug from an angelic child.