Life Begins Read Online Free

Life Begins
Book: Life Begins Read Online Free
Author: Jack Gunthridge
Tags: Romance, Coming of Age, young adult romance, autism, coming of age romance, life, aspbergers, aspergers novel, aspergers biography, autism books, aspergers authors, autistic love stories
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didn’t spend much time with my
uncle because he lived far away. It is kind of scary to think you
can have hereditary behavior from relatives you never really knew.
It’s not a learned behavior, but somehow it has gotten passed
down.
    I don’t know what my father
thought of me. Looking back at his teachings, I see he was
tailoring his parenting to me. Instead of trying to get the child
to conform to the parent, my father met me where I was and used
what I would understand to help to make me into the person he
wanted me to be.
    What I remember about my childhood
was a great deal of freedom and responsibility. Sunday mornings I
was allowed to wake up at 5:30 in the morning and watch The Muppet
Show by myself. I would then go back to bed and wake back up a few
hours later to get ready for church. I was doing this before I even
started school. It was not considered sneaking out of bed or doing
something forbidden. They helped me to set my alarm
clock.
    I don’t know why my parents let me
do this. Maybe they saw no harm in it. Looking back on it, I
realize now that even before I went to school, I learned how to
tell time and the value of being able to get up for something.
These are skills people need in life when they have a job or other
responsibilities they have to get up for.
    Since we didn’t have cable, I had
to turn the antenna from the northeastern direction to the
southwestern direction. I was learning geographical relationships
between my town and the bigger cities in the state as well as
things like north, south, east, and west.
    My father used my interests to
help to teach me life skills and to give me an education. In
exchange, I was given a certain amount of freedom to explore and
discover the world around me without a fear of getting in
trouble.
    I have always had a hard time
sleeping. I would lie in bed for a couple of hours and not fall
asleep. After the local news would end, my parents would watch
Leave It to Beaver. I would either watch it with them, or watch it
from the hallway. They knew I was doing it and knew that I had to
get up in the morning to go to school. They never acted like this
was something I shouldn’t be doing. Maybe they were sharing a part
of their own childhood with me or giving me an example of child
that could get in trouble in every episode and still come to his
parents for help.
    As I look back at all of the
lessons that my father taught me, I realize that he taught me
through stories, riddles, challenging my thinking, and using things
that I enjoyed doing.
    I was special to my parents
because I was a difficult pregnancy, but that didn’t mean the rest
of the world should think that I am special or treat me special.
There is a value to caring about another person, especially when we
put them ahead of ourselves and our problem. Life will present you
with problems. You can lament this fact, or you can accept them as
the particular circumstances you have been given in life and look
for ways to overcome them.
    There have been many times since
my father’s death I have missed going to him for advice. It took me
until I was an adult to realize that he imparted me with not only
all of the wisdom I would ever need, but he gave me the
philosophies and skills to solve all of the problems I would ever
have.
    The best teachers are those that
change your life without you ever noticing they were educating you.
My father was this kind of man.
     
     
     

Chapter Two
    As Cruel as School
Children
    My childhood was a happy one. My pre-school
days were spent with Christine. We played together every day. It
was then that I started to love her. I admit that it was a childish
love, but it was fun. I remember playing house a lot in those early
days. It was always her choice. I didn't care. All I wanted was to
spend time with her.
    ~~~
    Jack and I had two very different
childhoods. I think we were both jealous of each other and wanted
what the other one had. I was what some have called a
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