Adult Friends with Autism

It has been many years since I seen my friend that I have known since childhood. We were really good friends back in our teen years. We used to do a lot together. When we were 13 years old we both went on a road trip together and hitchhiked from San Francisco to Eugene Oregon. Yeah, I am sure that we had our parents worried sick over us but we thought we were having to much fun together to even think about that. When we got to Eugene the Grateful Dead was playing and we got to hang out in the parking lot and party it up.
That was back then. When we came back to our parents homes, life went on and we did not hang out as much due to various circumstances. I ended up moving to Washington State for a while then went to Job Corps in Yachats, Oregon to get my GED and learn Carpentry so that I could get some skills to pay the bills. After I graduated I moved back to the town my friend and I grew up in and we hung out a bit but not as much because I was busy working in my new trade making a living.
He was doing his thing and I was doing mine. Eventually, I ended up moving back to Washington and did not talk to him for a few years. Then, I moved back to the Bay Area and started a handyman business. I was always busy working and did not really hang out with my friend much. He and his family moved out of the SF bay so we really didn't see each other for a long periods of time. Eventually, I ended up moving to Los Angeles and I lost all contact with him.
Due to family circumstances I came back to the SF bay area. Since I have been back I have been in college in San Francisco to study Computers Science. One day I was studying at the local Starbucks that I always study at and I noticed my friend walking in. I was surprised to see him. It had been about 8 years since we even talked. He looked a bit different than I remembered him because he now had grey hair. It was at than moment I knew a lot of time has passed by. However, once I saw him I said his name and we looked at each other and clicked immediately like the good old days.
We talked and talked for hours and started hanging out and reminiscing about old times. We were talking about experiences that we had throughout the years and all kinds of good stuff. That was fun but things were a bit different with us. He was having some hard times and living in his van. I was staying at a friends house that we have known for many years. He was telling me about how hard it is for him living in his van and I felt like to help him get out of his van so I brought him to where I was staying and he was able to stay there.
Since hanging out with my friend he mentions very often that he has Autism and that he can not work. My friend has always been different from a lot of people that I have known throughout the years but I never thought of him as having Autism. The reason I never knew was because he never mentioned it to me before. Besides when we were younger I didn't know about the symptoms of Autism. As a matter of fact I just learned about it in a Psychology class while I was going to college in L.A. a few years ago and the information that we learned was very minimal to be honest.
I care about my friend a lot we have been friends since early adolescence. However, things are a lot different in our relationship now from when we were youngsters. We have both grown and matured in many ways and I am learning that an adult that has Autism has a lot of challenges that other people do not face. Another thing that I am learning is that in order for me to be a good friend to my friend that it is important that I understand the Autism Spectrum Disorder better so that I do not allow myself to get upset with him when he is going through things or behaving certain ways that I would find distasteful, disrespectful or rude.
One thing that I need to say about my friend is that he his highly intelligent and very caring about other people. I really appreciate that about him. When it comes to the symptoms that he has sometime it is easy for me to misunderstand him and I have found lately that it can be very uncomfortable for me. To be honest there are times that I have to step back so that I don't allow myself to get upset if we do not agree on something. I also need to be careful not say things that may get him upset. This is a challenge for me but as a friend of an adult with autism I am willing to work at it.
I am sure that there are many people out there that have friends and family members with autism. I am sure that there are challenges that you face or things that you have had to learn in dealing with some of the symptoms that my arise and I have to say that I commend people that are patient and caring enough to be support of them because our autistic friends and family need us and we need them.