08/16/2026
We’ve been gone for two weeks.
Two weeks is an awfully long time.
He doesn’t know where we’ve gone- only that we are coming home in one more sleep.
Every other year, we’ve taken a family trip and left him behind.
It’s unfathomable even to me.
Why go then you may wonder?
For two weeks, we’ve traveled and enjoyed long lunches and walked through cathedrals and museums.
Talked and laughed with my husband, my parents and my three older children.
All without being ruled by the iron fist of autism.
I’ve grown quite used to perusing stores and navigating crowds on busy streets without managing him as my sole purpose.
Countless conversations free of interruption from the boy who needs me to repeat phrases like “Good girl, HONOR, good girl. Yes. she is a good girl. Mwah, mwah, mwah.”
Dozens of times a day.
Even when you’re in the thick of a life with special needs, you never get used to the intrusion of complicatedness.
Not one task, simple errand, drop off at school, dinner out, shower or bedtime routine happens without extreme planning and considering.
I’ve largely learned to laugh and shrug off the annoyances.
Find bright spots in a world and life that will always be mine.
I will never lay my head on a pillow and not think of him.
Unlike his siblings, he will never stray far from me.
While the world is their oyster when it comes to education and careers and families, we are his oyster.
And so, we may go on trips and take advantage of a life beyond special needs but we will always return.
To the boy who loves dogs, airlines and his Mommy.
To the boy who knows the flags and mottos of over a hundred countries.
To the boy who will be in middle school this year amongst his typical peers.
He is my oyster.
