The Meaning of a Nightstand

About six months ago, my 17-year-old son asked, “Hey mom, do you have any furniture you need?” I said, “Well, my nightstand is broken and about 30 years old, why?” He said, “Oh, okay.”

I didn’t think anything of it. This kid loves analyzing the structure of furniture. He loves talking about anything he can build from scratch. He loves fire alarms too, and walking down the aisles of Home Depot marveling at every gadget, light fixture, PVC pipe, and oak plank. He is bright, soft-spoken, and contradictorily argumentative. He is 99.9999% logical minded and is determined that emotions are “cringy.” He is convinced that scientific minds change history and emotions are the detriment of society. This is not a point of agreement between us, but his arguments are decently sound. 🙂

His high-functioning autism has never been a roadblock.

This school year, his woodwork and welding teachers have noticed how dedicated and naturally skilled he is constructing things. He has brought many of his projects home, like a small metal table he welded together, a fire pit, and recently he surprised me with this:

He planned it all out to secretly bring it home as a surprise. I gushed over it, which he hated, then he frown-smiled and said: “I knew you needed a new nightstand, so I made one for you, mom.”

And now I will never ever replace my nightstand for the rest of my days. ❤