Music Monday - Autism Awareness Edition

Today is Autism Awareness Day and so I decided to dedicate my Music Monday to raising a bit of awareness.

Thanks to the power of the internet I've spent the past few years reading about a little guy named Jack who has autism. His mom Jean, aka Stimey, writes a blog that details their family's exploits, including the sometimes challenges but oftentimes awesomeness that is Jack. She also writes about his brothers, their multitude of pets (real and, um, not real) and the general antics of family life. I heart her blog.

When I had the idea this morning to dedicate today's Music Monday to Jack I emailed Jean to ask her what his favorite song is. She responded quickly that his favorite songs are the music from Mario video games. She gave me a back up idea (a Phish song!) but of course YouTube came through for me, and for Jack!

In fact, I've got two options for you, the traditional:

And my personal favorite, this awesome Acapella version that I think is SO cool!

Pretty cool, huh?

Now that you've enjoyed some tunes, another really cool thing for you to do would be to support Jack and his friend's and their Special Hockey team the Montgomery Cheetahs with their upcoming fundraiser. If you are prepared to cry, you can read more about this team for kids with special needs and how much it means to Jack (and Jean) here, here, here and here. I mean it about the crying, I hope your tissues are handy.

Activities for kids with special needs are pretty hard to come by. And families who have kids with special needs spend so much money on doctor co-pays and added therapies, often not covered by insurance. And, hockey is an expensive sport to play. So, for those reasons, and because Jack is smart and funny and such a cool kid, I really hope you'll support his team!