All we are is dust in the wind...

   I used to work in a group home with an 18 year old girl who had Autism. She was very competitive with everything, so we tended to stay away from games where there are clear winners and losers. One day her father brought her a Karaoke machine because she loved to sing, and she was really good at singing! I thought: "great, this will be a good activity for us to do together!"

     She started off by singing "The rain down in Africa" by Toto...awesome, I know...She was singing really good. I didn't know at the time, and much to my dismay, the Karaoke machine actually graded the singers...she got like 94% or something ridiculous. Amazing! However, she started fixating on how it wasn't 100%, and we worked through it.

    Now it was my turn... I knew that I wouldn't be able to beat her 94% so I wasn't worried about it becoming an issue. My song choice was "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas...(You may remember Will Farrell sing it in such films as "Old School")..moving along...

   I started singing.. "I close my eyes..." and the music took over. I lost all control and I sang the hell out of that song...I hit notes I didnt even know I could hit!

I hate to brag, but it was utterly amazing.

The song ended...I felt like I was the most beautiful singer in the world...I NAILED IT!

We both waited anxiously for my score....100%! BOOYA! I was amazed at myself! What an accomplishment!

I looked over at my client, who started to say to herself :
"she got 100%, she got 100%...." over and over again..

I thought to myself, "oh crap...."

I spent the next hour stopping her from breaking things and talking her down. "Remember, its just a game, it doesn't matter who wins or loses"

But to be honest, I was still REALLY proud of myself