There is an organization here in Austin called Texas Parent to Parent. From their website:
"Texas Parent to Parent (TxP2P) is committed to improving the lives of Texas children who have disabilities, chronic illness, and/or special health care needs. TxP2P empowers families to be strong advocates through parent-to-parent support, resource referral, and education."
Last night, The Austin Ballet had their Night of Community, offering free tickets to "share the art of ballet with clients of more than 500 nonprofit agencies each year."
We were the lucky recipients of four of those tickets last night, to a performance of The Nutcracker.
TX Parent to Parent encouraged those of us who got the tickets to write a thank you note to the Austin Ballet so that they would be sure to include TX Parent to Parent in their Night of Community next year.
Below is the thank you note I wrote. Of course, it being me, there are no envelopes in the house so the letter is sitting on the counter until I can get my act together and buy more envelopes...
My husband sadly was on a business, trip, so I took and chance and went with the kids myself. I get nervous that I'll get lost on the way (a frequent occurrence), misplace a kid, endure an Ellie meltdown, or any other myriad things that can go wrong with Ellie in the family. Luckily my kids are getting old enough that they can really help out when things go wrong.
We got all gussied up and went out to dinner before hand. The timing worked out perfectly, despite the dreadful Austin Friday afternoon traffic, and we got great seats right at the front on the balcony.
The Nice Gentleman from the Butler Dance Education Center
Ballet Austin Butler Dance Education Center
501 West 3rd St
Austin, TX 78701
Coquiero
My Address
Austin, TX
December 3, 2011
Dear Nice Gentleman from the Butler Dance Education Center:
I’m writing to thank you for the opportunity the Night of Community provided my family last night. One of my daughters is severely autistic and we were offered the tickets through Texas Parent to Parent. It was a night we won’t soon forget.
Because of her autism, my daughter Ellie makes loud noises, moves constantly and needs an ipod and headphones with her at all times, to entertain her and block out extraneous noises. I was worried that the ushers would have to speak to us about the ipod, so I was sure to find an attendant before the performance so she understood that her ipod is an assistive device and that we weren’t trying to be rude.
I’ll be honest, I was worried about taking Ellie to the ballet. Even in a more casual atmosphere like last night, I wasn’t sure how she would react. In short, I was delighted and amazed with Ellie’s behavior, almost as much as I was delighted and amazed with the performance itself. Ellie had her ipod on for the first three minutes of the performance, after which she turned it off and watched, transfixed, silent and unmoving, for the two hour performance. I’m not sure it would be an exaggeration to say that it was a Christmas miracle!
Most likely I wouldn’t have ever taken the chance of buying tickets to The Nutcracker, not knowing how Ellie would behave. The Night of Community gave a family a chance to broaden the horizons of a disabled girl (and her family), and now we know that Ellie loves the ballet. I expect we’ll be back.
Thank you very much to your sponsors and the Austin Ballet. What a wonderful Christmas memory we created last night.
With Warm Holiday Wishes,
Coquiero
PS I’ve enclosed my card, which includes the website address featuring Ellie’s artwork and a blog I write about parenting a child with autism, which will feature this letter.
On the way home, I could hear Ellie quietly saying to herself, "The Nutcracker. The Nutcracker"
As I put her to bed last night, I asked her what her favorite part of The Nutcracker was. She said, "The ballerinas".