La Furgoneta (The Van)

If you meet Fran at ACPACYS, the first thing he will do is look you in the eye and greet you enthusiastically with a smile. Shortly thereafter, the word "furgoneta" or "van" in English will likely come up in conversation. Fran has challenges in both receptive and expressive language, in other words his ability to speak coherently and understand others is affected. Communicating with him does require some imagination as he can be difficult to understand, but one thing that is crystal clear about Fran is his interest in vans. He can watch YouTube videos for hours about vans and talk with anyone about vans given how social he is. Fran often asks me if I am going in the van to the pool, a type of excursion that ACPACYS offers every summer for its members to escape the heat. Although we have not gone on excursions to the pool yet (apparently it's still not hot enough, which makes me especially nervous for the July heat!), we have gone on an excursion to the movie theater. When we went to the movie theater in a van, his face lit up and he couldn't stop talking about how excited he was to be in a van. I can tell how much Fran enjoys adventure and vans are symbolic of that. He enjoys adventure through videos, picture books, and van rides. While some might get tired of how Fran sometimes says the same thing over and over again (he has probably set a world record for the number of times one has said "furgoneta" per day), I do not mind the repetition. In fact, I am fascinated by his appreciation for something so simple and common. I feel connected with Fran because he has a gift for appreciating the things in life that most would find mundane. He appreciates the time that anyone takes to get to know him, and it is easy to smile when spending time with him.

                                                        Fran and I reading a book together