Sharky and I just spent a fun. cozy week snowed in together at my house. All rules and structure eroded to nothing by the 4th day. Bed time got later and later until it became virtually an optional occurrence, precious little homework was done, grooming and hygiene routines became spotty to say the least, and I began joking with friends that we were well on our way to recreating Lord of the Flies. Finally, on the 7th day, we strapped into my car, took some deep breaths, and skirted across town on the unplowed roads of Seattle in order to reunite him with his mothers, who would soon be taking him to the airport for a holiday trip to Disneyland.
I just got word that Sharky has arrived safely in Los Angeles, a mere sixteen hours after his plane left Seattle. Apparently they were scheduled to land in Salt Lake City for a short layover before proceeding to LA. But Salt Lake was snowed in, and the plane was re-routed to Boise. After several hours sitting on the plane in Boise, they got word Salt Lake City was back in business, but oops, they can't find the fuel truck and they need to gas up. They eventually found the fuel truck, but oops, now the plane has a broken part...a part that had been broken since they left Seattle! Lovely. Eventually they flew to Salt Lake City, where they spent the night on the floor of the airport, before finally getting a connecting flight to LA.
This is undoubtedly a cheap shot, but I can't help but wonder if Delta Airlines is managed by the Seattle public school district.
Oh yeah, that was a cheap shot. It felt pretty cheap.
At any rate, Sharky apparently was very successful in entertaining the other children stranded on the plane, and slept comfortably on the floor of the Salt Lake City airport. And now is prepared for his first pilgrimage to Disneyland. Quite an eventful first ever airplane trip.
Airplane odysseys and adventures to Disneyland: more things we never would have dared even try a couple of years ago. Now, as my mother wrote me in an email last night: "Sharky will probably do better than anyone else in that he has few expectations and can make the best of what is happening. A lesson for all of us."
3 comments:
It's interesting how some of these big changes (snow days, airplane debacles) ASD kids just take in their stride. I'm always wondering how much is because my husband and I really understand our son, how much is the great professional support he receives, and how much is just him? Thanks for sharing life with Sharky.
Hi & thanks for your blog. I have 2 sons with autism. My youngest will start Jr. High next year, so we're working on that right now. My oldest is on his sophomore year in college - he tried going to live on campus at a tech college, but that didn't work so well so he's home & doing community college now.
Mine is more of a family blog, but I touch on the autism stuff frequently.
Love your boy & keep up the good work :)
I can understand how a child under different set of circumstances can behave quite differently for a while until everything returns to "normal."
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