One of my favorite customers at the bar, who is also a parent, said last night that he was ready for the summer to be over. He was looking forward to what fall brings. I replied, oh man I am not. I like the easy summer days, holidays, and weekends which involve barbequing and water sports of some sort. The summer holidays involve friends, fun, and good conversation and are blissfully, for us, spent mostly outside.
In the fall things get hard. School starts which brings all of my kids challenges to light. I have already wrote about the meetings for Ryan and the plans for the transition to school. Tonight as I went to pick up Aaron’s four epi pens for school, I found out I need the allergist’s office to call the insurance to allow more than two epi pens to be dispensed every thirty days. This fall we will have Ryan’s ADOS test which will either officially put him on the autism spectrum or not, an IEP meeting for Ryan, a 504 plan meeting for Aaron, and I have heard that Aaron will be having a gifted IEP meeting. Not to mention the physical therapy check Ryan is scheduled for, the community behavioral health evaluation for Ryan, Aaron is due for an allergists follow up, and the boys have a dentists appointment, all before the end of September.
Halloween is hell for a Mom who can’t build much or thread a needle and has kids who ask to be things like an explosion for Halloween. Then there are the food landmine holidays and sensory overload get togethers of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Last two Thanksgivings that we spent out of the house we wound up in the hospital with a kid. Once with Aaron who touched something with peanut oil then rubbed his eyes and face. His whole face swelled up and his eyes swelled shut. Then last Thanksgiving Ryan became overstimulated at a family gathering and went outside to blow off steam. He threw a log in the air and hit himself in the head and needed six staples to get his head wound closed. Then there is Christmas. I not that person who gets the shopping done by October 1st and relaxes by the fire with egg nog. No, I am that shlub who is still shopping on December 23rd. I usually make sure that I never ever have to be out on Christmas eve because I try to have a real nice but low key family celebration that day but heck when Ryan was two he tried to drink bleach on Christmas eve but luckily he only ruined his clothes.
If I dumped that on one of my favorite customers I think he might have run out of the bar, never to return, and talk to me again. Yeah, the only thing I am ready for is a couple hours to myself but I think fall can already suck it.
