Long but great. This happened to an buddy of mine this weekend. These are his words.

Many of you have met my daughter and many of you know she's Autistic..."Different but not less" as Temple Grandin says....

Last night I saw something take place that changed her life and mine and my wife's life forever....I am still reeling from it....And because many of you know her and us I wanted to share.....

My wife had to go to the school on Tuesday for something or another....While she was there one of the twin daughters of a girl I went to school with approached my wife and said, "Did Eva tell you?"

"No..What?"

"She's on the Court for Snow Queen at the Dance Friday...."

"Really???"

"Really..."

We asked our daughter and she shrugged her shoulders as if that's no big deal and the wife took her out to buy a new dress for the occasion....

Friday got here and we dropped her off at the dance and the Principal gave us permission to come back for the Ceremony....(We asked Eva what she thought it was going to be like and she shrugged her shoulders and said (nearly giving me a stroke), "Like being in a wedding I suppose??"

"Not quite.."

And I explained it as best as I could...

We went in for the Crowning...When her name was mentioned the whole place erupted in cheers...Deafening...Her name being chanted as USA is at a Trump rally or when Obama announced Osama Bin Laden had been killed..."EVA!!!! EVA!!!! EVA!!!!"

The moment the King was announced, and he was the young man that had escorted my daughter, a hush fell over everyone....And then they announced her name as the Snow Queen....

Cheers erupted...Her name being chanted...Louder, louder,...My wife is in tears...Students are in tears...Teachers are in tears...Students high fiving each other, hugging each other, tears streaming down their faces....I have to step away and as I do students are nodding their heads to me...I try to thank them for this and they cut me off..."Sir, she deserved it...She is our Queen...She shows us love, everyone of us every day..."

I gather myself and come back in as the dance between the King and Queen takes place...There is circle of faculty and students surrounding her, not a dry eye in the place but mine..(stoic hillbilly overwhelmed, tears will come later when alone...)

As the dance ends she spots me outside the circle of a hundred plus kids and something amazing happened...There was a light surrounding her, I looked up but it wasn't on her it was coming out of her...I know that sounds crazy but I know what I saw...She began to walk towards me and the crowd suddenly went silent and began to part to allow her through...Looking at her with love and reverence....

For that moment the Autism was gone...Seven seconds tops but while that light was there it wasn't...Very hard to explain but as real as me sitting here...Everything was in slow motion....She put her arms around me and there was no jerking her eyes around at the sights and sounds...That look of pain she gets when the stimuli is too much...It was not there..I have seen it for 14 years and know it like the back of my hand and it was nowhere to be seen... bohemian style gowns for formal party show

In a voice so sweet she said "I love you Daddy...."

And then pulled away and it was gone as quick as it came...The nervousness...The eyes darting from sound to light then back again...Back to normal....But I will thank God each and every night for that seven or so seconds He showed me how she will be when we get to Kingdom..."No pain on that Bright Shore" as the old song says.......

This morning before I left for the shop (I had not mentioned the "light" to anyone...Not even my wife) my wife was sitting on the stairs as I was smoking a cigarette and said, "Can I ask you something Geary?"

"Yes Ma'am..."

"I don't want you to think I am crazy...."

"I won't..."

"When Eva was walking towards you...I swear I saw a light around her...."

"You're not crazy...And now I know I am not either..."