The Reason a Mom Whose Son Never Attended Birthday Parties Finally RSVP'd "Yes"

With five words written on a birthday invitation — "we can make it work" — Tricia Klein was brought to tears and given hope for her son's future.

Tricia's 7-year-old son, Timothy, was diagnosed with nonverbal autism at the age of 2, and since then, Tricia has politely declined each birthday party invite her son has received. On her blog she wrote, "I wonder if the parents know what would happen if I brought Timothy? The interruptions, the meltdowns . . . how I would hate to take the spotlight from the birthday child."

However, when Timothy brought home his classmate Carter's invite, something was different. Attached was a note from his mother, Ainsley, offering solutions and adaptations to make sure Timothy could attend, as per Carter's request. After outlining the events of the party — a bounce castle and water balloons — Carter's mom wrote, "Maybe Timothy can come earlier in the day if it would be too much with the whole class. Let me know so we can make it work."

Those words were what made her RSVP "yes" for the first time since the invitations began coming, and Timothy not only went, but he had a great time.

So much came out of this sweet gesture and amazing day, and Tricia shared with us a great takeaway: "We need to keep focusing on the CANS instead of the cannots. With as many things there are that Timothy can't do, there's a world full of things he can rock! In order to make progress you have to keep trying . . . take a chance . . . reach out to others . . . you just never know what can come out of a simple invitation."