The Christmas Chair

I have a great story to tell you about. I am a 15 year old autistic boy who has just received a wonderful present for Christmas. This may sound boring and regular, but just keep reading. I do a lot of volunteer work at my school, Copenhagen Central. I am a teacher's aide for a third grade teacher and I also help in the library every chance I get. I never expect anything in return: the satisfaction of helping others is enough. However, this year I have met some new friends that I won't ever forget. They are the janitors that I eat lunch with, since the noise of the lunchroom bothers me. One of them, Mr. Ron Trainham, decided to get me something really special for Christmas. I had told them during our conversations in lunch about how my recliner was falling apart: in fact, it didn't recline anymore at all and I was using some books and 2 by 4s to keep it upright. I come from a family that doesn't have much money, so a good new recliner wasn't being seen in the near future. However, Mr. Trainham, or Uncle Ronny as I call him, is a very determined person, and he decided that a new recliner was to be my special gift for Christmas. And he didn't want to get me just any recliner: he wanted to get me the best- something that would hold up to my 340 pounds (which is caused by my gigantism that goes along with another disorder I have). A friend of his and my family's, Mrs. Susie Colton, told him that he should try to get some other people from school in on it to help raise the money to buy the recliner. He took her advice, and many people chipped in (in fact over 30 people). I never knew that I had made that big of an impression in the school, or that people thought I was a good enough kid to deserve something like this. They raised the money, and got me a HUGE suede covered MASSAGING AND HEATING recliner I knew nothing of this until December 20th, the last day of school before Christmas vacation. I was helping out with a third grade Christmas party when Uncle Ronny and another janitor, Mr. Dale Clark (or Uncle Dale as I call him), came and said I had to go to the office. My mind raced frantically to think of what I could have done to get in trouble (I'm never been in trouble in school). However, they escorted me to the music room, where many of the people who had chipped in for the recliner, as well as my mom, were waiting for me. I had no idea what was going on, and then I saw the recliner. Uncle Ronny told me to sit down, so I did, never dreaming that it was mine. I just sat, confused, playing with the remote that controlled the heat and massage, until he told me it was mine. I just sat there and gasped, "You're kidding!". After this initial reaction, many of the people returned to their classes. I just sat there, shocked and repeating "Oh my God". My mom was in tears, and I called my Grandma, who lives with us, and she started blubbering too. On top of this all, Uncle Dale and Uncle Ronny agreed to take time form work that day to put it in our house. This is truly the best Christmas present I have ever received: not just the recliner itself, but the fact that somebody cared enough to come up with the idea, knowing that my family couldn't get something like this for me. A piece of furniture might not seem like a lot to some people, but it sure means a lot to me.

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