We do lots of things differently around here...i.e. vacations. It's been a long time since we've piled the entire family into the car or onto a plane to go on a family vacation. It's really not a lot of fun. It's just more work in another location for me. Blue can have a good time anywhere. Red...he complains no matter where he is, especially if I'm there. That is really frustrating --when you're paying a lot of money to listen to someone complain.
In recent history -we send Red on vacation either alone to see other family members (which he loves) or we send one of the boys alone with their father. Recently Red and I took a little mini vacation to San Antonio, which is only 90 minutes from home. I wrote about Six Flags More Fun ...more fun for him that is.
Back in April -I took my own vacation...away from all of them. It was a complete blast! I wrote Dear L.A. ...how do I love the? Let me count the ways. I had so much fun away from my family for 6 days! I came home refreshed, renewed, ready to deal with my reality. Didn't take long for the renewal to wear off. Reality came and slapped me in the face...woke me up and said, "Snap out of it!" I'm ready for another vacation right about now!
Now it's Hubby's turn to take a trip. Last year he spent his birthday in Georgia with his brothers. He took Red with him on that trip. This year he is going to L.A. to the Playboy Jazz Festival. There's only one stipulation...I'm making him take Blue with him. Blue will mostly spend time with my family (his cousins) while he is there. Dad will get a break, go to the festival and see his friends. The issue is...I don't want to be stuck here -alone, with the two boys. Been there, done that, don't want the t-shirt!
Of course when Red found out the guys are planning a trip to L.A. without him, he looses it. "That's not fair!" he shouts...no screaming, which is good, but lots of whining and shouting. "But I want to go! I want to go to Six Flags -Magic Mountain!"
"I want to go too!" I say. "But I don't get to do everything that I want to do!"
We quickly explain that he's been on 3 trips to Blue's one trip in the past year.
"Was it fair when you went with Dad to Georgia last year and Blue didn't go?"
"Was it fair when you went to L.A. over Thansgiving and your brother didn't go?"
"Was it fair when you went to San Antonio last month and your brother didn't go?"
"Well...I rest my case!"
I also threw in the fact that Blue has worked incredibly hard this school year, making straight A's. He also worked very hard on his state testing and received commended scores. Yes -I also mentioned that he treats us with great respect. He more than deserves this trip!
Without much further ado...Red had no choice but to shut the heck up!
BTW...Red continues to do better. Things are not perfect...but they are much more manageable. Thank you all for your prayers, positive energy and support.
Did you enjoy this post? Please click here to support the blog. I appreciate your clicks and your comments!
Logging you in...
Adelaide Dupont · 285 weeks ago
And for those of us who knew and appreciated these points in high school to a greater or lesser extent - always good to have a refresher and feel them through the current and future generations who we survived to be able to see.
I especially appreciated points 5, 7 and 10.
And young women not settling or settling down yet is a good thing.
"It's never too late to live our dreams" - but it may be too early for some of them!
And 8 of course.
nicole · 243 weeks ago
Risa · 230 weeks ago
LAH · 221 weeks ago
Maira L. Coral · 216 weeks ago
I was looking for information for my Multi-Genre Disability Research Project from my Early Childhood Special Education class on the web, when suddenly I came across your blog. I started reading this out of curiosity and I want to tell you that as you said yourself, you will not be Amanda Gorman, but you managed to make me shed some tears, perhaps because I felt totally identified with your words, especially in the part that you speak of your son. My son also has Asperger's syndrome, he is 19 years old and he is in the second semester of College. Also like yours, he takes classes from home, likewise my eldest daughter is also taking college classes from her room. At the same time, that I work as a preschool teacher from my kitchen through a computer, my husband sleeps in the room during the day because he works at night. Also in the afternoons I myself take virtual school classes. I am a 51-year-old Latin woman who began to learn the English language as adult, so maybe you find some deficiencies in my writing, however, I was very moved by how proud you express yourself about your son. Referent your mother, I liked the humorous tone that you give when your talk about her, so I did not want to miss this opportunity and stopped my assignments for a moment to let you know that your words do make a difference, since they reach the heart of at least those who have opportunity to read you. I want confess you that is the most long I have written to someone I don't know, because your words inspired me, thank you...
Gavin Bollard · 209 weeks ago
Thanks for this post. I've been very distracted of late and so this was how I found out about our friend Kate. Kate's struggles were very real but they were so constant and so wide-ranging that it was difficult for people around her to address them. I think it's going to take a while longer for me to process all this.
I learned so much from Kate because she was always quick to point out the many injustices in the world. In her glory days, she was very much a crusader and she cared for everyone. Over the years, as her situation took its toll, I came to realise that it was the fact that she couldn't be put in a single specific category, that made the system fail her. She needed help that they weren't set up to provide.
She needed more care and she needed to be less alone. I'm so sorry that this has happened.
For a long while we were corresponding almost every day but a couple of months ago, I realised that she had become so stressed that nearly every interaction I had with her was starting to trigger her. I backed away to give her a bit more space. She only had a little time that she could stand to be online and there were too many things that she wanted to do in that time. I thought that by taking a step back, she could reach out to more people who might be geographically closer and able to assist.
Kate was a beautiful soul and she will be sorely missed by all of us.
diyalabs6192603 11p · 192 weeks ago
Robots for kids
Robotic Online Classes
Robotics School Projects
Programming Courses Malaysia
Coding courses
Coding Academy
coding robots for kids
Coding classes for kids
Coding For Kids
Spoil your cat · 122 weeks ago
Many of these living arrangement aren't good, and many of the people who run those places really don't have the residents' best interest at heart. Those places are like old age homes and foster homes, where you sometimes hear horror stories. They're hard to trust. But then there are good ones, of course.
The best thing for an autistic adult is either to go on living at home or working and renting an apartment and living independently, but that isn't always an option.
Duncan · 112 weeks ago