Turning 50 Part 3

Surprise parties are fun... unless you happen to have autism and aren't clued in. People with ASD thrive on routine and Cody's no exception. Katelyn took this into consideration when planning my party, but felt she had no option but to keep it from Cody, for fear he would slip up and say something. Looking back, however, I actually think Cody handled the evening pretty well, considering Don and I were SUPPOSE to leave and go to dinner, instead of stay and mingle, and he was SUPPOSE to be alone with Matt and Katelyn, instead of in a noisy crowd of people. 

Cody, who happens to be blind as well, loves his family and friends very much and knows most of them by sound and a few of them by feeling their hands and arms. He became really excited when, as the minutes passed by, he heard voices of different loved ones. Once he realized they were in the room, Cody would blurt out, "Grandma!" or "Teresa Pie!" or "T-T-T-T-Tony!" (He likes to nickname almost everyone.)

Before Don and Cody and I arrived, Katelyn asked everyone to write down their favorite memory about me. Later, she read each one and made me guess who they were from. It should have been easy, but wasn't. I'm not use to being in the spotlight and my brain was on complete overload. My sister, who is a whopping two years younger than me, quite enjoyed watching me struggle. She blamed it on my age and told me, "You know DeeAnn, the brain is the first thing to go."

The following are a few of the handwritten memories from those who chose to participate. Because each individual means the world to me, I want to include every one. Therefore, I'm going to have to extend my Turning 50 blog posts series from 3 to 4.  My apologies. ;)

This is my little brother, Brandon. I did not slap him. It had to have been Teresa. :) I DID slam his finger in the car door once, but it was an accident. And...when Brandon was in his early teens, he DID scare the hell out of Don by tying a pull string firework to the microwave, then politely asking Don to please get "the butter" out of the microwave for him. When Don opened the microwave and the firework popped, it scared the crap out of him. Don was pissed, but the rest of us laughed our guts out. 

Cottia is my niece. I decided after NOT being able to guess Cottia's and Amberlee's (below), that I suck as an aunt. 

Kelsie is also my niece. She has an awesome husband, Jeremy, and three adorable little kids.

This one is from my brother-in-law, Tony, and I guessed his right away. I don't even want to attempt to explain. I could try to get him and Teresa to write a guest post about it, but reading the story would not even come close to hearing Tony talk about it. :)

This is from another one of my blog supporters, my mother's husband, Lynn. He is always

encouraging me to write and I appreciate that. Thanks Lynn! 

This note is from Maddison. She is technically my cousin, but more like a niece. Maddi and Katelyn are the same age and great friends. Don and I loved taking Maddi with us to Disneyland and she is right... nobody loves Disneyland more than me. 

This one is from my sister-in-law (Brandon's wife), Melissa. We DO love to play games on holidays!

Awww. Love you too mom!