She was born a daddy's girl. She loved her daddy and would reach out to him hoping for a laugh, a chance to play. Her daddy was a playing daddy and the two enjoyed their time together, it was something that gave them joy. Sometimes the play would cause a fright or she would fall and then mom seemed to be the only thing that could make things better. She loved her mom and that warm embrace would make everything better. This was a good home.
At age three Taryn was diagnosed with Autism. A doctor in San Diego who specializes in such things included her in a five year study. Mom would drive her down for meetings and tests, trying to giving her daughter all she could. At the end of the five years the Doctor indicated that Taryn did not have Autism but was possibly PDD or Pervasive Development Disorder.
The years ensued and Taryn grew to be smart and intelligent. Reclusive by nature, she would sit for hours reading and then read some more. She had a small girl fondness for animals which continued into teenage hood. Her fascination with books led to love for classroom subjects such as English, Science and History. Math on the other hand would be a hardship and a frustration. She would have to repeat Algebra 1 three times. Her reclusiveness made her a loner and there were few friends at school. Church was a blessing for her, it was here she made her first friends. Then, with the encouragement of her Mom and Dad she auditioned for a High School performance choir called "Showtime". She loved Showtime and in her sophomore year gained a circle of friends who she could sit and eat lunch with.
At night she becomes reclusive again and reads for hours on her bed. In the morning she is different. You could definitely call her a morning person and once aroused from sleep will talk excitedly about all kinds of things. Her mind is most awake then and she leaves her seclusion to open up and let out all the thoughts that came to her while in her quite and reclusive self. She is 15 now and her dad sometimes misses the times he was able to rough-house with her and play with her as a child, but he now enjoys waking her up for early morning seminary and cherishes the time she emerges from the bathroom full of talk and thoughts while everyone else is asleep. It's a time for she and her dad. These are thoughts that test her new found adulthood and they help dad to deal with his own grownup perceptions. He's never had a 15 year old before and it's exciting to see how the world looks through his teenage daughter's eyes. He finds a common humor with her and loves to laugh at her wonderful ideas and prays that those laughs never demean or belittles her intellect, because intellect she has. Dad may miss the little girl but he loves the young woman she's become.
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