When Luke Bryan played a show in Saratoga Springs, New York last month, he saw a little boy in the audience that was wearing a shirt that said, "Luke Bryan is one of the pieces to my puzzle." Not sure what that meant, he chalked it up to "interesting" and left it at that.
Margie, the mom of that little boy, knew that there was a lot more to the puzzle mystery than just an interesting shirt. Riley, her 4-year-old son, has Asperger's Syndrome.
Note: Asperger's syndrome, also called Asperger's disorder, is a type of pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). PDDs are a group of conditions that involve delays in the development of many basic skills, most notably the ability to socialize with others, to communicate, and to use imagination. (From Webmd)
The lives of children with Asperger's and Autism are like puzzles. Finding those pieces that help make their lives "normal" is a part of living with the disorders. For Riley, Luke Bryan's music is one of his puzzle pieces. Margie watches her child light up any time he hears Luke's songs and she wanted to thank him for that gift. So she wrote a letter to her local country station, 107.7 WGNA, after the concert, hoping that they could pass her thanks on to Bryan.
The station had her and Riley come in and chatted with them on the air. The DJ brought up the letter and then explained that they didn't have Luke's cell number, so there was no ability to call him, but asked what she would say to Bryan if he were listening. Margie gave a very heartfelt thanks on air and then the big reveal happened ... The DJ asked, "What do you think about that Luke?" and Bryan, who was on the phone from his bus, responded, "Well, I think that's pretty amazing."
The look on Margie's face was only topped by the look on Riley's. The country superstar chatted with the two, even singing Riley's favorite song for him, for several minutes.
Can you say "nice guy?"
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