Here's To The Kids Who Are Different...

Hi everyone! I thought I'd post this because I know that many of my readers have kids with special needs or uniquenesses of some sort.
Most of you know I have Aspergers and ADHD, but when I was a little kid, nobody really knew that. In the eighties people weren't big on diagnosing kids unless they had pretty extreme disabilities and disrupted others, If you were just quietly suffering by yourself,  they mostly left you alone.
I had a miserable time in school! I was a good-hearted kid who tried hard to follow the rules. But I just didn't fit in. I had odd habits and mannerisms, lacked social skills, was horribly disorganized, couldn't pay attention for the life of me, and got teased and tormented by the other kids. My mom was usually angry with me for not trying harder. She was convinced that I just didn't care enough to fit in. Kids were supposed to watch each other, and try to act like each other. Since I didn't, obviously was just stubborn.
At some point, though, a clipping of this poem appeared on the side of the refrigerator at our house. I don't remember how old I was... Old enough that I understood that I didn't fit in, and that my mom had kept the clipping because it described me. It was one of the rare reminders that maybe my mom did understand that I wasn't just trying to go against the grain.
I went to visit my parents yesterday, and I noticed the clipping, wrinkled and yellowed, still taped to the side of the refrigerator. I wanted to share it with you all. Maybe you can print it out and tape it to your own refrigerators, for your own kids to see.
Here it is...

Here's To The Kids Who Are Different

Here's to the kids who are different,

The kids who don't always get A's,

The kids who have ears twice the size of their peers,

And noses that go on for days...



Here's to the kids who are different,

The kids they call crazy or dumb,

The kids who don't fit, with the guts and the grit,

Who dance to a different drum...



Here's to the kids who are different,

The kids with the mischievous streak,

For when they have grown, as history's shown,

It's their difference that makes them unique.