GYPSY DANCE
We went to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire on Sunday. I had heard about it for years, with only mild interest, but one of H's friends is a fanatical devotee and had talked it up to him big time. Suddenly I kept hearing about it, morning noon and night. H is not a loud, in-your-face type of child but he is very quietly persistant when he really wants something. So when a Sunday was suddenly, unusually, freed of other committments (soccer games young and old called on account of soggy fields) I knew this was our chance. We went with dread in our hearts. Well, actually, P and H were full of pleasant anticipation and Henry had no idea what was happening but enjoys car rides. Just Paul and I felt the dread (this thing is both a long drive away and relatively expensive, so if Henry decided he couldn't stand the place we would feel pretty bad!) But, it turned out to be a gamble that paid off: we all had a fabulous time!

There were no dogs or loud mechanical noises at the Faire, Henry's big bugaboos, and there were continuous live concerts of all kinds. He loves music, so he did serial concert attending and eating, while Paul and I traded off taking the other boys to the Maze and the Archery Range and the Sideshow games etc etc. One of my favorite performances, which I got to see twice, was the Gypsy Dancing. And Henry loved it too. I don't think he cared much about the lovely girls, but he adored their very spirited accompaniment of percussionists, who were great in their own right. We also got to experience an amazing heavy metal medieval instrument playing band from Germany called Corvus Corax. Henry made a bee line down into the very heart of the "mosh pit" and stood there swaying blissfully to the reverberations. I guess we need to start dyeing his hair purple and taking him to clubs!

I realize I have gone on at length about this, but it is SO DIFFICULT to find family outings that we can all enjoy (Henry's autism and uncontrollable fears preclude many "normal" activities that other folks take for granted. ) So it feels wonderful each time we discover one more.