Vacation From Autism?
Is there a vacation from autism? I asked myself that very question during 4th of July weekend...after spending three days packing, cleaning, cleaning horses and embroidering just for a four-day weekend.
Ever since Crew has been diagnosed, vacation doesn't have the same the meaning anymore. In the dictionary vacation means a period of time spent away from home for travel or amusement. In my made-up autism dictionary, vacation means anxiety for Crew and myself, reassurance every 20 seconds of every day (and night) of exactly what we are doing, and ensuring Crew never leaves my side because we are in a strange place.
How silly am I that I actually bought a book to read while sitting on beach? Sitting on the beach is a joke in itself. My son loved the ocean this year. He never liked the ocean before. But this year, you couldn't get Crew to leave the big blue sea. After the tiring four-day holiday weekend, I didn't believe there was a vacation from autism. What word could I use? Triumph. Triumph means to celebrate victory or success. Triumph means watching your autistic son swim in an ocean of which, for so many years, he feared. That's an overwhelming triumph.
Is there a vacation from autism? Maybe not a vacation, but there is a conquest for Crew— and for me, the step of being a little closer to embracing autism.