AUTISM – COMING OF AGE CAROLINA STYLE

“Coming of Age”; it can mean so many different things really.  Getting a driver’s license or first car.  Maybe it’s a boy’s first shotgun or hunting trip.    For my autistic son, Marshall, none of these are likely to happen.  There is, however, a rite of passage here in the Lowcountry that we enjoyed together as a family and made him very happy.

Recently Marshall attended his first oyster roast and went prepared with his own knife.  To fit right in you DON’T show up unprepared.   So beforehand I took him shopping and at our local jewelers he picked out an oyster knife that Ms. Jill, the owner, had engraved for him.

When we got there it was still a little daylight and early.   He was more than ready and excited.

He found us a table close to one of the dessert tables (smart kid) and took this picture of what was going to be one of the highlights of the evening for him.

My sweetie showed Marshall how to handle an oyster knife and of course he used a leather glove to protect his hand.  (Most people use a glove – not just sons of overprotective moms wanting to avoid a trip to the ER.)

Like his mom, Marshall is a foodie and it didn’t take him long to get opening these treats down to a science.

And of course the best part is eating the oyster right out of the shell complete with slurping up some of the water and occasionally just a tad of Lowcountry pluff mud.

This particular oyster roast was a fund raiser for Dorchester County Habitat for Humanity.  Oyster roasts are a popular fundraiser and most winter weekends you can find more than one going on within driving distance.

Volunteers had packed Ziploc bags with graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows for easy to assemble s’mores around the fire barrels.  Marshall happily made some for himself and for his British grandmother who’d never enjoyed this treat before.

All in all it was a great evening.  When I asked him the next day how he enjoyed his first roast he answered with one word:  “AWESOME !!!”