Don't Tell Nate He's Autistic!!

Part of my job at Bliss Orthodontics, is I meet and take xrays and pictures of all the new patients who come to our office.  I go over their medical and dental history and get information and facts about the patient before I go into Dr Henao's office and give her a report on all I find out.
Today, my last patient of the day, was Nate, an 8 yr old brother of one of our other patients who is currently in ortho treatment.  I took Nate back and took both xrays and pictures without any difficulty, but with many giggles, jokes and pure joy.  It wasn't until I took him back to his mom in the waiting room, that I understood why mom asked me how things went. I was handed Nate's medical history and could see in bold writing 'Autistic' on the front page. I would have never guessed.
Mom was anxious, yet thrilled to know, that everything had gone beautifully.
I seated both mom and Nate in my office and went over the  paperwork.  When I came to the section of 'patient hobbies and interests', I saw that mom had written - 'loves to play baseball and basketball, loves to dance hip hop and loves to play the piano'.  It was hard for me to hold in the tears welling up in my eyes as I looked at this sweet boy, who although he suffers from some very difficult emotional and physical trials, loves life - and accepts and embraces some challenges that bring him much joy.I especially admired the fact that he had been taking piano lessons for the past few years and finds the playing of the piano 'soothing and theraputic'.  I took piano lessons from age 6 to 16, and I never remember them being either 'soothing' OR 'therapuetic'. 
I was humbled.  Truly humbled to tears to meet this sweet Nate. And meeting him made my day.  I loved how I felt meeting him, talking to him, and understanding who he was.  He made me look at life differently and I liked that he could do that for me.  He was joyful and made me joyful too. I feel blessed to have had the experience.