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swimmers. Keaton learned to dive and do flip turns. Soon he was swimming in events in public swim meets. His favorite stroke was the free style; he swam this in competitive meets. He placed or ranked well in some of the events. He took part on relay teams also. It was somewhat apparent that his actions differed from those of the other swimmers. Keaton was quite happy to attend meets and to swim whatever strokes he was assigned. The family attended any event that was nearby. I know that several of Keaton’s friends and acquaintances came just to cheer for him. He often had a large cheering section. Hank continued to coach until Keaton graduated. The doctor had spent a total of ten years as a swim coach in his spare time! My daughter, her husband and our youngest grandson do not live in Pulaski. Both sons and their families live here and attend the church to which Carl and I have been members since we moved to Pulaski fifty two years ago. Keaton has always enjoyed the church services and Sunday school. A few years ago the youth director was not as attentive to Keaton as he was accustomed. Keaton complained to me that the director just did not understand autism, and was intolerant. Later, when Gavin was in the youth group he found the director to be helpful and sometimes fun. This upset Keaton again, and he talked to me about it. I explained to him that I felt that he had “gotten off on the wrong foot” with the person. This came across to Keaton as he had “gotten a little bit over the foot” with the leader. This phrase is the subtitle of our book; it sort of describes Keaton. Carl and I use the phrase “a little bit over the foot” to cover most any situation we encounter. Keaton also continues
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