Dear Noah....you often say such profound things...

Noah and I went to see the movie "Frozen" last week...we had free passes...anyway....the next day while talking about the movie...Noah said "I think that is the most genuinely happy I have ever felt in my life for a long time!" I asked him what he meant by that...thinking he felt happy all the time. He has always seemed a happy kid...ever since he was little. He has a hard time explaining things but finally said it was because the entire time he sat there watching it...he was smiling...all the time...and it was EASY to smile....not a forced smile like I guess he has had to learn to do sometimes in his life...this smile and happiness all came very easily while he watched a simple movie. It was almost a musical animated movie...and he liked the music...we did bust out laughing a LOT through the movie...and could just about predict when they would break out in song and dance...even that became funny. BUT it was his statement that was profound and offered a lot of insight for me into his emotions...how someone with autism has to learn to express his emotions and DISPLAY them to the point where they do not come all that naturally but are things learned....sometimes forced....and I guess for this one brief moment in time..he felt what he called "true happiness"...and it was because of the EASE it was for him to actually FEEL happy and be able to smile without even "thinking" about it....