Monday, April 13, 2009

Anything For a Friend

Florida trip
My friend, Carrie, emailed me about a month ago and asked if I would go to Florida with her. She wanted to take her two sons to the Jacksonville area for evaluations with a HANDLE specialist (more about HANDLE in my next post). One of her sons has autism, and she suspected that even though her other son is not on the spectrum he could still benefit from an evaluation. Carrie's husband would not be able to take the time off and she was concerned about making the trip by herself. So she asked if I would be interested in going with them. Hmmm...Florida in the springtime? Twist my arm, Carrie!
Florida trip
Because I have been somewhat interested in the HANDLE approach as well, I decided to bring Ryne along and have him go through a mini-evaluation. Florida is Ryne's favorite place in the world, so he was pretty thrilled -- even if the temperatures were in the 50s the first couple of days. Before you start feeling too sorry for my girls being left behind, they have had their trips alone with me too, plus they had plenty of fun with Daddy all week.
Florida trip
The trip went great. Carrie was a little nervous because Mason (above), her son on the spectrum, had never been on an airplane, but he did great. And he loved swimming, no matter how cold it was! Isn't he a cutie? Carrie did a great job of finding us a good deal on a condo, just steps away from a pool and the beach.
Florida trip
There's something about traveling with a friend that makes even frustrations seem fun. A broken-down rental car, my head cold, the health food store that just wasn't meant to be, a collapsed bed, outlets in the bathrooms that didn't work...all these things had us in stitches. Okay, maybe it took us a day or so to laugh about the car thing. Carrie (above) is a good sport for dealing with Enterprise's poor customer service.
Florida trip
Ryne had a good time with Carrie's boys. When we met at the airport the first thing Ryne said to Mason was, "Why do you talk like that?" Mason, who has limited verbal skills, seemed equally perplexed with Ryne, who had the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up, practically covering his face. So Mason simply reached up to pull the hood down, and I could just imagine Mason thinking, "I don't know why I sound funny, but you look funny with your hood all pulled up like that!" Carrie and I had to laugh at the irony of their interaction -- is inappropriate behavior really inappropriate when both parties are on the same page? Ryne also had fun with Nathan, Carrie's older son (above), even though half the time he got their names mixed up, calling them Nason or Mathon!
Florida trip
And me? It turned out to be quite a relaxing trip. Carrie spent most of her time with the consultant, but I stayed at the condo with Ryne and whatever boy wasn't with her. We had nice walks on the beach and lots of down time. My appointment with Ryne only lasted a couple of hours, but was profitable. Our last day brought bee-yoo-tee-ful weather and Carrie was done with all her appointments, so we all spent several hours playing on the beach. While it would have been nice walking down the beach with my hubby, I built some great memories with Ryne (above). Just what this burned-out mom needed.
Florida trip
So, Carrie, I'm glad I could be of help.

5 comments:

  1. How awesome that you had the opportunity to spend quality time with Ryne and your friend in a beautiful AND get more ideas on how to help your son!!! Win-win!!!

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  2. Awww...So glad you guys had a nice trip. I am jealous! I hope you will share what the HANDLE pro taught you :)

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  3. Kellie, I couldn't have asked God for a better person to accompany me and my boys and put up with all of our nuisances and quirkiness! I thank God for a wonderful friend like you and I'm even more thankful that not only did He answer my prayers for me and my boys, but my prayers for you and Ryne too! In spite of all of the driving back and forth to therapy and the condo and the broken down mini-van, I had a good time! I see you got some good pics too! I love the one of you and Ryne! Not too bad of one with Mase and I either. I'll be sending you some pics soon. By the way, Marc seemed to be o.k. with us getting that house together down there, but said you better wait until he was worth more. lol. Thanks again for your help and companionship down there!I had a blast getting to know Ryne better too. We are playing "yellow car" now too. lol. Love ya!
    Carrie

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  4. How fun! What a great time for you and your son to have to yourselves. I totally agree with you on how things are handled differently with a friend than a hubby. Those things would have made my hubby cranky which would have spoiled the day for us. What a great friend you are.

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  5. What a wonderful vacation you had! For us harried moms with special needs kids, down-time is so important. I wanted to thank you. I posted your touched by autism button on my blog. I actually tracked you down through Darcy at Graphically Designing. I saw your button on her website and fell in love with it. I emailed her and she just barely let me know where to find you. Love the button, thanks for being inspired to get one created. I have been searching for a great autism awareness button and couldn't find one. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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