PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Building Magical Connections
Under the Sun
By Rebecca VAUGHN
T
here she was, about 50 yards away from
our camp, near her big blue umbrella in the
warm sun. She was seated in her low-to-the-
ground beach chair with her solitary green
bucket nearby. She loved to watch the ocean
birds, the seagulls, the packs of quick-foot-
ed sandpeckers racing back and forth while
poking at the wet sand on the shoreline. She was a
local during the summer, showing up day after day at
the same beach spot with an umbrella already firmly
planted in the sand by the lifeguards. A simple white
tag was attached to it that read: “April.” This was her re-
served spot, and she had been there for many, many
summers—decades, I would later find out.
At 84 years old, she had been a witness to many grad-
ual changes, and she had a deep appreciation for the
24 | Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 87
inhabitants that depended on the ocean, especially
its fine-feathered friends.
A few summers ago, an eight-year-old autistic boy
named Brady crossed over the row of flat large rocks
that separated the public beach (where Brady’s fam-
ily set up their camp) and the private side where
lifeguards unloaded and set up dozens of identi-
cal bright blue umbrellas promptly at 10 a.m. every
morning, including Ms. April’s. Hers was the one on
the end, closest to the rock divider. Red danger flags
flew on both sides of these rocks that lead straight
into the ocean to mark the ‘no-swim’ zone.
The rock divider was a place of curiosity for Brady; he
would wander over from his camp with his purple
bucket in hand. There he would discover and gath-
er shells of various colors and forms. Running out a