Seriously?!? WTF?!?!

So here we are in the Atlanta airport. It’s huge. It’s noisy. It’s confusing. It’s most likely the worst place for a person with autism to be. And Brian is not happy.

Funny thing is we navigated from the A terminal to the B terminal with no problem- he enjoyed the escalators and the moving sidewalks but when we made the final turn to our gate he lost it. I don’t know what it was for sure. I have many theories- he simply wanted to go the other way, he just then realized we were going on another plane, he was confused and thought we were at our final destination, he was just still tired from being sick the day before, he saw something down the other aisle he wanted? I don’t know. I do know that I was carrying four items at this point and it just simply wasn’t an option to continue exploring the whole airport. I couldn’t leave our stuff- you know how airports are. Plus they were telling us every five minutes we were in the orange threat zone for some reason or another. And I couldn’t carry it all for long periods of time.

So we’re only two gates away from ours and Brian stops dead in front of me with his hands up to me crying. He wants me to carry him but I honestly can not do it with the luggage I had. I stop and pat his back and try to console him that we are almost there. We’re standing like this in the middle of this busy aisle when an adult man walks past us, looks at Brian, and MOCKS HIM! I’m serious- he made a face and said “Waah! Wah! Waah!” as he was walking by.

So here I am with a crying six year old, four bags, and some asshole making fun of my child. I turned around and said “Hey!” and gave him the look of death but he didn’t even turn around. Oh, how I wanted to chase him down and pummel him. How I wished I had another adult with me at that time to stay with Brian while I ran after him screaming expletives. Honestly, I was in shock! What the hell?

So that was my first adult bully I’ve dealt with. And how I wish I really could’ve dealt with him.

Heather Nelson

About Heather Nelson

Heather resides in Rockland where she is busy juggling life as a newlywed, a mom to two boys (one of which who has autism), a part time job in direct sales, and a full-time job as a pediatric occupational therapy assistant. She has a love for live music, karaoke, and cheering on the underdogs.