Hershey Park

Yesterday our family went to Hershey Park. We were each allowed to invite one friend to the park with us. For those of you who don't know what Hershey park is, its an amusement park filled with Hershey Chocolate. lol. My brother picked a friend to take and I picked a friend to take. Both friends came over Sunday night so that we could sleep in a little longer before hitting the road. The park is a bit of a drive. We have friends that live in the Harrisburg area. They also came and tagged along with us. We had a blast.

     A lot of my friends are younger than me as I have posted in previous entries. The friend I chose t take along with me was three years younger than me: the same age as the friend we met up with that lives in Harrisburg. I am a bit older than them and I wanted to hang out with them. The problem is that I have Aspergers which can make it a bit tricky to deal with a group of people instead of one individual. I do much better one on one with people. If I am with more than that I can get a little bit excluded from the group. This was not the case this time thought. Fortunately I had a blast, but this I often times feel the need to share what it is like to have aspergers and how things can be portrayed differently.

       One thing that I did struggle with is at the park was appropriate behavior for the the sensory input that I was receiving. I am very sensitive to noises and I am very sensitive to heat. Large crowds are not my cup of tea. During this trip I was with a group of nine by the end. The group was originally six people, but since we have friends in the Harrisburg area, we invited them to meet us. That was great, but I had to maintain my calm, include everyone, and enjoy myself. When i am in a large or unfamiliar place such as an amusement park, things can get a bit crazy for me. By the end of the evening I was feeling a bit crazy. My sensory issues were getting to me, but I had to control them so that I looked normal and could be with friends.

             At the end of the day we went to chocolate world. We then went to the Hershey bakery where they have every cupcake you could ever imagine. I picked my cupcake out and headed over to the table to sit down. Sometimes I have trouble controlling my excitement, especially after a long day. I started to rock back and forth and I would stare out the window obsessing about storms coming. I also would rub my hands together in anticipation of the great cupcake I was about to get. This can be a little inappropriate when you are with your peers. By this time I start to talk in a monotonic voice with just the facts and questions. Its almost like I develop a child like voice.

               Going to amusement parks are great, but they can be overwhelming. Some of the behaviors that I exhibit are not appropriate to do in public such as the rocking and hand flapping and rubbing. There is nothing physically wrong with it, but it looks awkward and makes people want to shy away. I have learned over the years that I can do such behaviors in my home, in the car with the family and if I don't feel comfortable, I can even do them in my room for that matter.

                  As a child I exhibited the sensory issues I have today, but I didn't start self stimming until I was in middle school. I started slowly rocking when I was in 9th grade. My mom started to notice this and she put an end to it pretty quickly. Today i have tried new ideas and instead of rocking, I will tap my foot as I actually am doing now and realizing now that i am typing this. This is absolutely appropriate to do in public because it is subtle and it is something that normal people do sometimes. When it gets on people's nerves, they tell me to stop, but it is often times a very mindless habit now. I absolutely crave movement and that is what keeps me balanced and happy.

                  Overall I had a great trip to Hershey, I did very well with the circumstances I was given and I managed to make it through the whole trip without getting upset.