Luke’s expressive verbal communication is limited but his receptive language is phenomenal. we were out to dinner a couple of weeks ago and were talking about what he wanted to be for halloween. we always have to check to see if he has something in mind that we are trying to guess or if he is wanting us to come up with ideas. he did not have something in mind, but he was very excited to hear what imaginative things we were going to pitch to him. after about 1,000 rejected ideas i asked if Luke wanted to be his favorite Trader Joe’s worker, Jon Nelson.

Luke immediately loved the idea and Jon was all in. he gave Luke a name tag and asked him if he preferred purple or blue. and Jon blessed Luke with his very own perfectly sized Trader Joe’s shirt.

we went to Trader Joe’s three times the week of halloween and each visit delighted Luke and it delighted me and it delighted the workers and any patrons that happened to realize there were two Nelsons in the store.

Luke can sense someone assessing him from a mile away. even if that person starts out sweet and kind and somewhat interested in him. he can tell if they want something from him or if he has to prove his worth by responding to them in a particular way. a way that they can mark down on their clipboard.

but Jon is not like that at all. Jon doesn’t require anything of Luke. Luke can be himself around Jon and he doesn’t have be performative. and that is why out of the thousand things that we came up with for Luke to be for halloween, he wanted to be the one and only Jon Nelson.

and Jon wore his blue shirt all week.

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two Nelsons at Trader Joe’s