Travel: Metaphor and Reality

 i acquired a taste for travel while i was a kid, while not completely enjoying it at the time.  Go figure. MyGuy and i  have not taken very many trips but i've throughly enjoyed the ones we have taken.

  The scrapbook pages are from one of the few we took

while DINKS,* before our kids came.  MyGuy was in Massachusetts, at a two week computer training, and i flew out to join him for the weekend.

  We had a fabulous, packed 36 hours, seeing all the sights in Massachusetts (and getting lost in New Hampshire!)

  We dreamed about taking our kids on fanstastic, long, history-filled vacations.

Welcome to Holland

  Then a few years later, we became parents.  Life always changes when one becomes a parent, and, within that context, our lives didn't change drastically.
  Unlike some families, we didn't realize we had a "different" child right away.
  At first we simply had sleepy ones, whom we had to wake up to eat.  Dangerously sleepy ones, but that's a whole 'nother story. 
  The story of Max's diagnosis needs its own post as well.  His preschool teacher sent home an "Author Unknown" essay about the rearranged expectations of having a child with special needs.  Boy did it hit home.

Daily Life and Traveling Too (or Not)

   We discovered that traveling was maybe more trouble than it was worth.  Other families have told me that they do nothing that their autistic child cannot participate in.  We did the divide & conquer thing.  Maybe neither approach should be exclusive.  i definitely don't know.
  We had the Cincinnati Zoo trip, where we lost each other (in pairs!) and, when we finally met up again, decided to buy a membership.  Two more visits would pay for it, and so MyGuy took Boom once, and i took Boom another time.

Trying to Enjoy the Pool

   The worst part of that trip was the crazy motel pool.  Pool hours were like 10am-6pm.  What kind of hours are that?  We wanted supper before it closed in the evening.  Max, i think a whole 11 years old at the time, fell asleep afterward, then wanted to swim at 10pm.
  Which is open pool time at SOME places.
  And we spend a large part of the night in the car, because, not being able to swim, he screamed instead.
  At least we think that's the reason.  Maybe he actually wanted his own bed.

Hindsight - Still Not 20/20

  We should have gone home in the middle of the night.  We thought we'd swim in the morning, when the pool opened, but it didn't.  Seems there was an unexpected maintenance problem.
  Well, at least that was the most nightmarish of the few trips we took.
  Oh yes, this was also the era of seat belt refusals and attempting to communicate by opening the van door  while on the highway.
  What WERE we thinkng?

Is It All Bad?  No,

  i wouldn't want to say it's all bad.  We do less, we split forces, it definitely helps now that Boom is old enough to take a shift (we left the boys together while we went to Hawaii in '08 - and made sure to go school was in session instead of our actual anniversary).
  Like everyday life, on a trip we have to keep thinking what Max can handle before it happens, because he does enjoy going places.  He really liked the plane trip to the Poconos.  Me, i was a basket case, but we need to do these things when finances allow.  It is fun.
  In a readjusted, Holland type of way.




*Did you follow the dinklink?  HA!  The "high income" part never applied.  i became a SAHM partly because the daycare wanted more than i earned!


Interview with "Welcome to Holland" Author