Ben is a fantastic singer along the lines of Michael Buble and the last couple of years he's taken part in the school inter-house talent contest in aid of charity. In 2009 he came first and last year he came second which was amazing considering he hadn't been officially in school since the spring and found it really hard, if not impossible, to be amongst his peers. But there he was, standing up in front of the audience, singing away... And today, if he can manage to stay in school long enough, it's the 2011 Contest and I'm taking my mum along to watch.
Last year I was probably the only parent in the audience who had completely different stuff going on in their head when I sat down in the school theatre. Firstly, I was worried sick that Ben would get up on stage and then freak out and / or flee, in front of everyone. I didn't care what anyone else thought, but I did care about how it affected Ben...
But he went ahead. And he was fine. In fact he came across so incredibly confident and poised you'd never have guess there was a problem except that he was very thin.
But what did break my heart was the fact that none of his friendship group or peers bothered to turn up to support him.
Unlike the other acts which received whooping and cheering from the other kids, the audience simply clapped politely when Ben finished and when he eventually won second prize. Apart from me, of course, who tried to make up for it...
That really cut me to the core.
Let's hope, if he manages to do it today, that some of his friends turn up to support him this time.
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