"Griff"
For time:
Run 800 meters
Run 400 meters backwards
Run 800 meters
Run 400 meters backwards
About six years ago, I was walking across Clergue Park with a former business partner. We were talking about Sebastien – the son of our third partner, who has autism. I mentioned something about "what a struggle it must be" to deal with autism every day; he turned to me and said, "You know, Chris, things happen for a reason. Can you imagine a better family for Sebastien to be part of?"
We told Sebastien's story here, last time. A semi-verbal kid shows up at Catalyst with a full-time therapist and a plastic baggie full of smiley faces; can't coordinate a squat; can't link two instructions together. In another stroke of incredible luck, he's paired with Tyler. At first, he's too frighted to catch a football; his parents are worried he'll have to live at home with them, for life.
Yesterday, he got a job. A real one.
Autism is a process. Sebastien was a large part of the reason Ty wanted to start Ignite – which has also 'grown up' a lot this week, with its first Certification weekend now scheduled in a major US city and a textbook almost ready for the publisher. Congrats, Baba; congrats, Ty; congrats, Luc and Suzanne!