First and foremost I am not asking for money.
My son, a 2004 doperbaby, will be celebrating his 18th birthday December 26th. I know I don’t post a whole lot but a lot of what I’ve posted has been about him over the years. He’s such a good kid but he’s had some major struggles in his life. He’s trans and autistic and has PTSD from a horrific violent attack when he was six and it was complicated a couple years back when he was sexually assaulted at school, then the boy who did it took his own life and my son blames himself. He hallucinates. He sees him. He hears his voice. Life has been so hard for him. He’s been housebound since last year, can’t go to school, fears being in public because he almost lost me to covid and he’s been diagnosed with long covid. He’s afraid to go out anywhere crowded. He’s too weak to walk too far anyway, but he’s also so isolated and all his friends have faded away.
So I thought maybe something like this might cheer him up. He’s so sad. I wish I could make some magic to help him. He’s on heavy meds and gets as much therapy as our state insurance allows, but none of this makes him HAPPY. He rarely smiles and that breaks my heart.
I don’t want money, I was just thinking maybe things you might have and don’t need. He loves cooking and baking. He’s crazy about ties. Doesn’t need to be new, in fact his favorite activity pre-covid was bargain shopping at Goodwill. He loves art, both making and learning about it. I think he’s pretty talented too. He likes funny things. Even a funny card might lift his spirits a bit. He collects pins. He loves anything rainbow or trans (pink/white/blue) colors. He’s in to drag, has been dreaming of being a drag queen for a while and loves the fashion and makeup.
I don’t know if this sort of thing is still allowed here and if this needs to be taken down I totally get it. It was just an idea I had and I ran it past my daughter BloodyL and she thought it was a nice thing to do too, but I don’t to give the wrong impression here. I’ve been around the Dope a long time but this is a weird and kind of big ask, something I ordinarily would never do. And I know it’s a tough time with the holidays going on too. It doesn’t even have to be ON his birthday, of course. It’s only four weeks away.
Anyway I feel silly and pitiful asking, but I’m going to do it anyway because I think if any place is the right place for me to ask, this is that place.
His name is Phoenix.