I am a planner, organizer and, truth be told, a worrier. I am rarely late but I stress out when I am. I try to remain calm and hide my inclinations, and I especially try to hide the worry from my own little worry wart, Mr. E.
I want to share a little story about a day I had recently. To really appreciate this story, you need to understand that our life often revolves around travel on a ferry. To travel, you must make a reservation and be in line a minimum of 30 minutes prior to departure or risk losing your coveted, reserved spot. So far, I have lived with the ferry system for at least 16 years. I know the drill.
I used to love the slow, calm ferry ride in beautiful surroundings. And then I had kids. Granted, they aren’t totally responsible. When something becomes familiar, you often forget to stop and smell the roses, forget to appreciate the beauty around you. Ferry rides are now filled with activities, tablets, walks around the boat; anything that keeps the kids from making a scene and disturbing our fellow passengers. Most parents go through this but, with special needs kids, all these steps are overwhelming and, often, we just sit in the car. An hour or more in a cramped space with a sensory-avoider and a sensory-seeker. Oh! what joy!
In our 16+ years of marriage, my husband and I have learned the art of blitz shopping: You are going to “the city,” you have this number of hours until your ferry home and a list of things to get done. Ready. Set. Run!
Then we had kids. And now everything takes four times longer. Your list gets chopped down to what can and can’t wait. Then, add in the special needs. Many stores we go to are too busy, bright, crowded, etc., and cause sensory overload. We’ll spend way more than we wanted, buying pointless things just to keep them happy, keep them going, keep the peace. Don’t even get me started on eating out. “Oh, you like Chinese, Mexican, Indian, etc., well, too bad. The kids will only eat…” It’s so hard to remember that they are not spoiled or misbehaving kids. Their brains are just wired differently. You cannot force food or any other issue on them. You can offer and try but, 9 times out of 10 you will be in the same restaurant that you’ve been to twenty times before.
Okay, so now let me set the scene:
It was a dark and stormy morning. The kind of morning where, when the alarm goes off you hit snooze as many times as possible. The kind of morning when you would gladly let your cozy, warm bed keep you prisoner. As I lay there, forcing myself to wake up, I hear the rain drumming on the window, the gusts of wind shaking the windows. On the floor beside me is my ever-faithful mutt snoring like a hog running a chainsaw. I snuggle deeper into the covers and feel the warm body of the puppy snuggled up, stealing half my pillow, and the not-so-soft breathing of my sleeping hubby.
Finally, I drag my lazy bum out of bed and grab a shower. Today was one of our travel days. We have a very good set of local doctors but, as you know, no one ever has all the support service that they need in one place. So, we have a special behavioral/meds doctor and a pediatric dentist that are wonderful but in another city. Normally, we leave in the morning and come home on a late afternoon or early evening ferry. Today though, we have the dentist, and tomorrow, we have the doctor. Our morning progresses smoothly and all is well. The kids are up and dressed and have even eaten breakfast. I feel like I’m on a roll. Time to go and suddenly, my blissful blanket of peace rips apart as the boys start fighting over something stupid like who got their shoes on first. (Sigh) a normal day ahead. The kids run to the car and “forget” that they were asked to help carry things out. So, I struggle to load the ice chests and overnight bags into the car while avoiding the late-night land mines that Jack left on the driveway instead of in the grass.
Now we’re on our way and I feel confident that I can do this alone. I do appointments alone all the time. We’ve even done overnights without Dad or another adult and have done fine. I’ve chosen limited shopping today to maximize our play time and hopefully make this fun trip instead of boring and stressful. We reach the ferry in time and wait to get on the boat. The rain won’t let up, although the wind seems to have died down. As the cars start moving in the first holding lanes, I start the car so that it can defog the windows enough for me to see where I’m going… or at least, that was the idea. The car battery is dead. I have had this happen already once before in the past six months. The last time, I had turned off the car but left the headlights on. I’m not sure what it was this time but, there’s no time to worry about it. Without a thought of the torrential rain, I jump out of the car and run (run!) to the toll booth where I know that they keep a jump kit. I take the kit and run back again, quietly cursing my very out-of-shape self.
The rain is pouring and I’m trying to find the hood latch with visions of somehow getting my hand stuck in the grill… (a childhood story for another time) while trying to wave the traffic around me since I am now holding up the line of cars. It takes a moment for them to see me waving them around – maybe the rain was obscuring me as I stood there waving with one hand and trying to pop the hood with the other, while wearing only a thin black sweater for warmth. (Before you ask Mom, yes, I had a coat and a hat but, in my haste, promptly forgot them.) Meanwhile, the boys are freaking out that we are going to miss our ferry and hollering at me, asking what I’m doing and all the imagined pandemonium the comes with active imaginations and anxiety. I get the car started with the help of my new favorite black box and we’re off – the last car to board the ferry. As I sit and filter the boys’ questions, I realize just how drenched I am. My hair, which had been freshly washed, dried and styled, now lay limp on my head, literally dripping water. Drops of water run down my face and neck. I feel as if I’d just stepped out of the shower and hadn’t toweled off yet. My sweater, scarf and jeans are soaked. Thank goodness, I have an hour ahead of me to air-dry before facing the public again.
Needless to say, it wasn’t a fantastic start to the day. The rest of our time basically followed suit, with many meltdowns and issues. Ah, just another day in my life.
Adventures with Quirky Kids 