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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