Best.Birthday Ever!!

A few weeks ago, I had made mention on my Facebook page Red Vines & Red Wine that The Boy was upset about not having more friends to invite to his birthday party. He asked me "I'm a nice guy, aren't I?" Shattered my heart into a billion pieces. How do you tell an almost 11 year old with autism, that of course he's a nice guy, and it's the quality of the friends, not the quantity?  Of course, I did tell him these things, and he seemed content with the answers, but I was still upset about it.

In the comments of this post, someone suggested that I do a "Card Party" for him. What a FANTASTIC idea! So, with some nervousness, I opened up our lives to the folks who like my blog,  page, and have followed our lives.

So many awesome cards!

We were not disappointed! The birthday cards started coming in about a week or so after I posted the request. The Boy didn't seem to really understand why he was getting mail from strangers, and I had to patiently explain to him (several times!) that all of these people read my blog, and know about you through that and my page. And that some of them have kids with autism like you, and some just want to wish you a happy birthday.  Once he understood he got quite excited!  He loves to get mail anyway, so the daily trip to the mailbox became an adventure!

He got musical cards, homemade cards, cards with stickers, cards with cash, cards with dinosaurs, cards with superheroes, post cards, cards made from duct tape - so many cool cards! He got a cool swag bag from Canada, filled with all kinds of Canadian fun, including a lot of little notes with Canada fun facts, he got a box of sweet treats from England, and a post card from Germany!

All told, he received 35 cards, gifts and well wishes from all over the U.S. and beyond. We kept track of the states he got things from on a map I printed out for him. It was not only fun, it was a great learning experience as well.

The Boy got cards from:

Idaho

Pittsburgh

South Carolina

North Carolina

California

Texas

Michigan 

Ohio

Iowa

Kentucky

Nevada

Virginia

West Virginia

Montana

Arkansas

Louisiana

Maryland

Indiana

Kansas

Washington

Canada

England 

Germany

WOW!!!!!

The cards overflowed into two rooms!

How awesome is that?? He also got two pen pal requests, and we can't wait to respond!  I was so completely overwhelmed with the kindness and generosity of so many people who, until now have only known my son as "The Boy."  With so much ugly in the world, this truly gave my hope in humanity a much needed boost.  I cannot thank everyone enough for participating and making The Boy's 11th birthday truly something special.    You are all amazing and wonderful, and I am thankful to have such positive people in our lives!