Luke 12:34 Connected to all before autism The Bird Girl in garden counting flowers In the garden lives a bird. Children come and go and play And the bird flies away. (age 9) I wrote this because I sometimes feel like the bird. I am overwhelmed at times by the noise and activity around me. So I often feel like I would like to fly or get away from it all. On one of our first visits to Austin, when Elizabeth was six years old, Soma asked her to write a word that started with A, and to our surprise Elizabeth typed, “Agony.” Soma asked her if she knew what agony meant, and she replied, “Quite so.” Soma took a deep breath and asked again what agony meant, and Elizabeth typed, “Pain.” “What causes you agony?” Soma asked. Elizabeth gave her a sideways glance, filled with exasperation, and typed, “I can’t talk. I am stressed. I have no way to say that I am greatly bored with my day.” When Soma tried to commiserate with her by saying she is also often bored, Elizabeth banged her head with her hand and typed, “But you talk.”
