To Marcin Gortat, the Washington Wizard basketball player who made my sons night.

You don't know me. I was not there this past weekend when you met my son, but I heard about it as soon as he arrived home. I understand you probably talk to a lot of fans, including kids at every game, and they probably all blur together. But this one, you need to know was special and it was a special night for him. You only know a couple things. I'm going to tell you the rest.First, he was shy. You were so tall and he was intimidated, so he made his dad talk to you for him. Second, he was at his very first basketball game. Actually, it was his very first sporting event ever.

Now for the things you don't know:

Along with other diagnosis, he has a connective tissue disorder, and although he is tall for his age, he won't be able to play some sports like other kids his age. He's also the clumsiest child I know, so he usually ends up falling anyway. You don't know he had not decided who he was rooting for until he met you. You don't know that he struggles with crowds and noise, but we had ways of helping him cope and he really wanted to go but understood it may be loud. Thankfully, it wasn't as loud as we anticipated. Unfortunately, this meant he was the loudest one there and people moved away from the excited and confused child who couldn't understand what was going on.You don't know he was so scared of being kicked out that he asked over and over for !5 full minutes whether or not it was ok to eat at his seat or that just in the first half, he knocked over his drink three times because he has no body awareness. You also don't know that it took the entire first half to keep up with which side his team was shooting into. Then at halftime, it changed and he was thrown for a loop and was pulling his ear because it stressed him out. You don't know that he struggled through the entire game because of the overstimulation of the experience, but he still wanted to see you play and win to the point his dad told him the game was over at the time out three minutes before the end because you guys starting to fall behind and he didn't want our son to have a meltdown and could end the night on a high note.

There are many more things that you don't know about him or his experience that night. So, this is why I wanted to thank you. Thank you for actually talking to my child who may have seemed shy. You didn't look at him funny or dismiss him like the people who changed seats to get away from him because they couldn't handle it.Thank you for making his night by being excited for him for being at his first basketball game.

He's your new fan and is rooting for you all the way.

Sincerely,

A Very Happy Mom