Guy Week

Well, it's official.

NJ's mom is on her way to Baltimore to embark on a 10-day cruise... to the Bahamas.

Which is somewhat odd because we live about 20 minutes from Bimini Island, in Palm Beach County.

That said, the next week and a half should be interesting.  No hand-offs.  No Mommy time.

NJ is six.  He doesn't understand why cruises are necessary at all, let alone ones that take his Mommy away for 10 days - the longest he'll have been without her since birth.

But I'm greatly looking forward to it.  

I think NJ and I really could use some "guy time."

Indeed, we've got some movie nights on tap.  We're hitting the water park on Saturday (hoping to wrangle his buddy Derrick into the trip - he's a great lad, who has been diagnosed PDD-NOS, Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified). 

Basically, it's a blanket diagnosis for high-functioning autism.  And he's indeed very high functioning.  

It was his mother who first told us about therapy group, which has made a remarkable difference in NJ's social skills already.

Regardless, we're getting into some of those fun summer days... splashing around in the pool... drinking bottomless glasses of iced tea... nibbling cookies... staying indoors during afternoon thunderstorms and watching SpongeBob Squarepants... reading... gaming... and continuing to do our best to branch out and make connections with other aspie/autism families.

I'm looking forward to some blessed time when I couldn't care less about autism, Asperger's, school rules, bullies, embarrassment, worry, the latest theories, or how we're possibly going to make it through.

We're going to just turn it all off for a few days.  And I plan on thoroughly enjoying my son - mano a mano.

When we're playing and hanging out, I'm not aware of anything needing my concern.  He's just NJ, and I'm just his Dad.  I know him so well, that he is absolutely "normal" to me.  And he's seeming a little more "normal" in the classic sense every day.  He's making more eye contact, having more conversations, playing with more of his peers.

But really, when you're at the Friendly's with a big Birthday Cake Friend-Z in front of you and an afternoon of nothing in particular to do after that... and you've got the most beautiful boy in the world... and you've got a little window of freedom, and a few bucks in your pocket for a movie... you realize... this journey is about more than Asperger's... it's about more than diagnoses and therapies and challenges.

It's about life... it's about love... it's about family.  And it can be heartbreakingly beautiful.

Peace,

Jay