PS. There's this girl . . .

So shortly after I posted the entry below, Jeremiah came out of his bedroom with a big grin on his face. "So Daniel . . . Who is the girl?" he asked.

Daniel mumbled something at him.

The entire house stopped. Gary muted the TV. We all stared.

Girl?

"Look on his MySpace page, Mom. He's changed his status to 'in a relationship'".

I thought it had to be a mistake. A tab he didn't mean to click. Daniel said nothing and that nothingness spoke volumes (he has the loudest silence of anyone I've ever known).

What's her name?

"Kristy"

"How long has this been going on?" his Dad asked.

"For a couple of weeks." He glanced around at his slack jawed brothers. "What? Why are you all here?"

"Because the walls in this place are all only an inch thick," said Jeremiah.

"You can never escape da family," quipped Gary, doing his best Godfather impression.

However, we took pity on him and chased his brothers out of the room. Then Gary and I carefully sounded him out on it. Whose idea it was (her's of course). Why he liked her (she's funny and she's nice and she doesn't mind that he doesn't have much to say. For a seventeen year old Aspie who is a little immature, this enough to base a first relationship on). Was she a Christian (Yes. He seemed surprised that we'd even ask. And, if you're wondering, this isn't a requirement in this house, but it does make things easier for all involved). How did they meet? (Stacy introduced them. Thank you God, once again, for Stacy).

Gary talked to him about relationship expectations; no one has to tell Daniel to be kind, but reminding him of the importance of reciprocation is necessary. We talked about the possibility that it might not last very long--or that it might last a really long time--and that both were normal. I mentioned learning to drive and for the first time he actually looked interested.

Then he showed me a picture of her (on his My Space page). And, of course, she's really cute, and she seemed genuinely happy to be with him, but the part of the picture that interested me, was the fact that my son was in it with her and he was smiling a wide, joyous, gentle smile. Quite frankly, I've never seen that exact expression on him before and it was mind blowing. He had morphed into a young man in love right in front right in front of me.

He seems to be handling it all fine. But his parents' heads are spinning.