#autismwontstopme – The Jepson Files

Sep 05, 2016

6 Aaron's Musings

My half-marathon sized accomplishment

Today, I did something that I never thought that I’d be able to accomplish. My dad and mom always encourage me to push myself to do things that are hard and that will take much effort. So, my dad and I decided that we were going to run a half-marathon. We have been training for it all summer and today was race day. We got up really early and headed to downtown Colorado Springs. The race was at a park called America the Beautiful Park and it has a great view of Pikes Peak, the mountain that inspired that song. I was quite nervous and didn’t get much sleep last night. But, I knew that we were ready. All summer, we have been working our way up to longer and longer runs and we already had done an 11-miler, so I knew we could do another two miles. So, I decided that I was going to try to enjoy it and “run with joy”, like my dad always tells me. The gun sounded and we were off. Could I actually run that far? We started running and my dad looked over at me and smiled. That is when I relaxed and just settled in. The run was actually enjoyable. There were lots of people giving me encouragement and also the water stations every couple of miles really helped. I almost forgot that it was supposed to be hard. But, at the end, I remembered. My legs were definitely feeling it and I was ready to be done, for sure. Soon, I saw the 12-mile marker and I knew that it was almost over. My dad said to listen for the cheers of the crowd and to wear a big smile because we were almost done. As we came around the bend and crossed over the river, I could see my mom smiling and cheering for me. That made me so happy and I was so proud of myself for doing my best. We crossed the finish line at 2:00 even. This was a good time for us. Better than we expected. It felt so good to have set out on this journey and to have made a challenging goal and then to have accomplished it with style. It helps me to realize that even though I have autism, I can still do things that are hard if I set my mind to it. A great day! Aaron

Jun 22, 2016

8 Aaron's Musings

My first backpacking trip

A rough start and a bucket of pinecones. This week, my dad took me on my very first real backpacking trip. We started out after driving to the trailhead on Monday afternoon. My dad was getting the stuff ready in the packs and I decided that I needed to go gather pinecones in a big bucket that I brought from home. My dad didn’t know where I had gone. He was worried and angry that I had disappeared. He went looking all over down by the river which was raging very hard from the winter snowmelt. He was gone for just a few minutes. My dad was calling my name and whistling and I knew that I should get back but I really wanted to fill the bucket with pinecones and take it with us. My dad came back to the truck and we met up again. My dad was really mad that I had left and reminded me that the first rule of backpacking was the buddy system so that we wouldn’t get separated. He also told me that I couldn’t take the bucket with me. It would be too hard to carry for our long trip and we needed to leave it behind. He was right, of course, but I still didn’t want to leave it. So we had a bit of a showdown before we even got started on the trail. My dad just sat in the truck until I was ready to leave the bucket behind but it took me a while to make that choice. Just then, it started to rain and so our trip was off to a rough start. I’m sure my dad was having second thoughts about bringing me on the trip. He said he didn’t know if he could keep me safe. But, I decided that I really wanted to go and that I needed to listen to my dad. So, I put down the bucket and we started on the trail. Love you Dad for making me listen. The first campsite. Now we started walking and carrying our packs. They were really heavy. Could I do this? I wondered, at first, but I decided not to think about it and started just putting one step in front of the other. We made some pretty good progress. As it started to get dark, we found a spot where we could set up camp. It was a very beautiful and quiet spot near the river in the middle of some trees. My dad got right to work setting up camp and starting a fire. He gave me an assignment to gather wood but I didn’t really feel like it. So my dad did all of the work of setting up the tent, gathering wood, getting water and making dinner. My dad did this the whole trip. I felt bad about that but I just didn’t have the energy to help him. My dad just did it without complaining and I am really grateful for him. The first night dinner was a pizza that we cooked in tinfoil on the fire. It tasted […]