I am going to a concert tomorrow that is a bit like a high school reunion. It’s an unexpected pleasure to be invited.
Any of you who have read Unforgiving, Memoir of an Asperger’s Teen will know that my high school years were not exactly a piece of cake. But take heart: how your life turns out? Depends on you, not the people who disparage you.
Take Hilary, (not an Aspie) who is conducting her own 70th birthday symphony in a Victoria concert hall. We went to the same school, to a lot of the same classes.
Hilary played in the band. Generally regarded as a tomboy, she was good in sports, a bright student and a great kidder.
What we didn’t know? Hilary was already playing in a symphony. Our music teacher who claimed to be very into classical music and even took our class to the Victoria symphony, was dismissive of her talent. He never let us know we had a virtuoso in our class.
No matter: Hilary pursued her music anyway, making music her life’s work, teaching music in high school, singing with choirs and smaller groups, playing in symphonies around the world as well as conducting.
And the end result? This week Hilary will have a 70th birthday concert with an orchestra and chorus comprised of more than 200 friends and fellow musicians who have worked with her over the years.
So if you really love something, as Aspies often do, and yet you feel a lack of enthusiasm in the rest of the world, as Aspies so often do, don’t give up.
If you work hard at it, enjoy it and pursue it with determination, humour and joy, there will be great rewards at the end of that rainbow.
Margaret Jean