A Little Story About Sisterhood

by Suzanne D. Vicoryosmanson, Director A.U.T.I.S.T.I.C. Kids Autism Awareness and Advocacy

(Reprinted from the December, 2012 Frontier Girls newsletter)

On October 13, 2012 my little family went to our church and spent a couple hours setting up for a Court of Awards for my daughter, Beth. Even though Elizabeth is highly active in Frontier Girls and Girl Scouts and a variety of other groups, she has never had a formal Court of Awards to recognize her achievements. She had helped to plan her ceremony, and was disappointed that every person that she had asked to be a part of it by presenting her awards for different areas had turned her down, but despite that, she was excited because we had invited over 300 people to come, and we expected a big crowd. Beth had been struggling since August, trying to adapt to many changes that had occurred in her school setting and in many other areas of life. It had been a rough few months, and there had been days where I was ready to throw in the towel. It was challenging, to say the least. This was going to be a highlight, a pinnacle event for her, to set the groundwork for excellence in spite of changes. Instead, it all came crashing down.

We decorated, arranged her awards and photographs, set up refreshments and had everything ready. We ran back home and showered, then returned to the church to have the ceremony. We went in, looked everything over to be sure we were ready, and then waited patiently for her family and friends to arrive. The event was scheduled to start at 5 p.m., and we figured people would be coming in just about that time. We waited. And waited. And waited. After almost an hour had passed,well into the time that the ceremony should have been happening, we were forced to face the cold, hard truth: nobody was going to show up. My daughter was nearly in tears, and my mother and I were angry that no one had bothered to take the time for her, when she does so much for our community. It is hard enough to battle individual people, but to see such a lack of support for her on what should have been a big night truly hurt all of us. We determined to make the best of the situation, anyway, and proceeded with her Court of Awards as if we had a packed auditorium.