— by Tess White —

Orcas 2018 Homecoming Queen Erin White

I have lived on an island for 21 years now and I am grateful. I am grateful for the beauty and the isolation. I am grateful for the ocean and the woods. I am grateful for the rain and the stars. But mostly, mostly I am grateful for the people.

People want to know why I live on an island. Why raise children in this place separated from the rest of the world by ferries and water and sky? And why, why raise my 17-year-old daughter, Erin, on an island? She has autism after all. Island girls who have autism don’t get all those city resources, right? Erin didn’t get early intervention or ABA therapy or social skills groups at the UW, but in many ways, she got so much more.

Erin got to be in a class with her peers since she was in preschool. She wasn’t placed in a self-contained class for only students with autism. She got some amazing teachers who were invested in their community and equally invested in her being part of that community. She got to hunt for Easter eggs at Cascade Lake, do the zip line at Camp Orkila, and visit Santa Claus in Deer Harbor no matter how old she was! She also got to have meltdowns in the grocery store, the pharmacy, and one very memorable one in Island Hardware and still be welcomed back. People in this community have gotten to know her and have learned she is worth getting to know.

And the people that spend the most time with her, that see her at her best-laughing and swinging and sharing; and at her worst-yelling and overwhelmed and agitated, are her classmates, her peers. And this last week her peers did something remarkable.

I sat in the crowd at the homecoming assembly wearing Viking blue and laughing at the lip syncs and all the games. Then it was time to announce the prince and princess from each class and of course the king and queen from the senior class. One of her peers announced the winners and as I heard her name being called “Queen Erin White!” I watched her leap from the bleachers and scream with delight! The crowd erupted and cheered as she got her crown and bounced into her throne along with her king. Erin got to be homecoming queen!

In the couple of days that have followed the assembly I have been stopped all around town by people congratulating me. Friends and neighbors in the post office and the grocery store getting choked up talking about it. A classmate’s mom stops me to share that her son and his friends have been talking about voting Erin to be homecoming queen since they started high school together. I am amazed and humbled. I am reminded of the generosity and love in my community.

I often notice how Erin is not like every other senior at Orcas Island High School. But in that moment when I watched my daughter jump for joy, surrounded by her peers cheering and smiling, I realized that is so many ways she is like them. She is an island girl in a community that embraces and accepts her…and she makes one hell of a homecoming queen!

Written: October 2018 from Erin White’s web page https://erinsdoor.weebly.com/homecoming-queen.html

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