Night to Shine

Brendan has recently started going to dances again and attended his very first Night to Shine. He will have many Proms between this year and next year so we went ahead and purchased him his very own Tuxedo. We have different shirts and bow ties to switch it up for each dance. We lucked out and grabbed them all on clearance. After that entire process we are very happy that we decided to purchase instead of rent one each time. It is not easy to get it all on him and measure for alternations. In the end we save money as well since they are a lot more to rent than I had anticipated.

Brendan went through a period of not wanting to attend any dances. I found this odd since he used to love going. I didn't force him to go and was literally just accepting the fact that my son would not be attending Prom. However, this year he surprised me and asked to attend Homecoming. I have been wanting him to attend Night to Shine for years but since he wasn't into dances I never asked if he wanted to go. I am so glad he wanted to, he had an amazing time. His high school is now adding a Unified Prom this year so he will attend 3 just this year! Night to Shine was started by Tim Tebow in 2014 and provides an incredible experience for people with special needs around the country.

We lucked out and his school bus driver is simply amazing. She loves Brendan and has been a part of our lives for years and volunteered to be his buddy at the dance. We decided to surprise him and was beyond happy when he saw her.

His face seeing her:

We got to drop him off and go on a date! I knew he was in good hands so I had zero anxiety leaving him. He had an amazing time and will continue to attend. I literally cried when we came back to pick him up. Watching him and everyone so happy dancing the night away without a care in the world, without any judging them, without anyone looking at them weird or off in their own clicks. The DJ was ending the night and everyone started shouting "one more song, one more song" and my heart melted. I am so glad my son chose to experience an amazing event. I hope he continues to do so because I want him to enjoy his life no matter how hard it can be.

Derek got him out of his chair to dance with his buddy:

My teary eyes because apparently I will be emotional for life: