Turkey Boy...

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 As turkeys are a tradition of our Thanksgiving meals, Calvin Shin cheerfully earned the nickname “Turkey Boy” because his birthday happens to fall on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 1995. Having been diagnosed with autism at 3 ½ years old, he has been different than other children because of this life-effecting disability, but it has also given the family many memories and an abundance of thankful blessings in ways other parents will never get to experience. When he was first asked to hold a pencil, he did not know what to do with it, so he broke every pencil he could put his hands on. After dozens of pencils were broken and thrown away over several months, he finally mastered how to hold a pencil properly. Just like Forest Gump, who dealt with physical and mental challenges and started running in the movie, Calvin began to overcome his own obstacles as he started to draw. At first, his figures were unknown to anyone except himself. He would draw one figure over a hundred times until it satisfied him, then move on to the next one. In all his art pieces, uniquely expressed and all different, one main characteristic stood out despite his disability – happiness. Perhaps the drawings were his way of shouting to the world, “Hey, it’s me! Calvin – a happy, happy person.”