Monday, January 15, 2007

Dieter-Lee Watson came to visit!

For those of you who don't know, awhile back our member Al Stevens took on the task of building a figure for an autistic boy in England. Well the family came to Florida to let Dieter swim with the Dolphins and while here a few of our members visited with them as well.
I arrived early as I live the closest and then waited for Al and Judy to come before going in. We were greeted with hugs from both Susan and Dieter-Lee or Dee as they often called him. We talked about Dee's condition and Al and Judy's son and the differences in how Autism affects people. All the while Dee was going from person to person and would say; "talk," indicating he wanted to hear Rufus or Dexter speak. When I made Fred talk Dee came over and put his ear to Fred's mouth. Mike, Dieter-Lee's father, said "he never does that when I do it." I took that as a great compliment. I think I hit it off with Mike, talking about movies and old television shows that have been "imported" to American TV.
Dano arrived after calling for direction and brought in an Axtell bird and a soft punk rock figure that Dieter seemed to think was funny. When Donald arrived Dieter anxiously hurried Percy's escape from his suitcase and even though he said nothing, I think Don got just a little nervous for his newest figure that was hand-carved by Conrad Hartz.
After the house visit we all went to lunch and the conversation flowed like we were all old friends.
Dieter-Lee is a sweet affectionate child and it touched you that he seemed so glad to have us there.

John

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