Summer Bucket List

Summer is quickly approaching- R has just 2 weeks left of school! Although summer is coming, we will still have a crazy schedule- lots of therapy sessions (speech 2x week and occupational therapy/feeding) and of course these appointments are not the same every week. Thank goodness for my Erin Condren Life Planner- I would be lost without it!

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about what I want to do this summer, besides therapy and summer school for R. Last year we had a "bucket list" of 50 things to do, and I will admit we only crossed off about 1/4 of the list. We had good intentions, I assure you!

This year I'd like to make another list and be more intentional about completing it. There are a lot of things that are difficult to do with R because of his comfort level and the fact that he loves his routine. We'll be taking that into account this year, and hopefully we'll be able to do a few new things to help him overcome his anxiety about new people, places, and situations. I would love for our family to be able to go out to lunch or dinner at a restaurant this summer. We've been working on that for 2 years now- I think it's time to try. I"m also thinking about the zoo, which we did last year.

What is on your summer bucket list? For those of you with kiddos with Autism, what kinds of activities do you during the summer?

I'll be back at the end of the week to share our list with you! Happy Monday!

Editing Your Story

Remember when you were in high school and you had your adult life planned out? Then, when you got to college, you tweaked it a little, but you still had a plan and you'd be damned if you waivered from it. My plan went a little like this...

Get bachelor's degree {check!}

Get master's degree

Move to a metropolitan area- preferably someplace warm

Travel around the country as a savvy business woman

Get married {check!}

Travel often with my husband

Retire and buy a place on the beach

Sounds lovely, doesn't it? I think so. 

My reality is that I got my degree and got married. I married a Marine, which led me to California spending a lot of time waiting for him to come home from deployment and not being in a stable living situation. I worked as a Program Director for the YMCA and then quit when I started having complications with my pregnancy. Oh yeah, I got pregnant (not in the above plan). With twins. The twins were born and I was instantly a stay-at-home mom. Then R was diagnosed with Autism and it became my life. It just swallowed me up. 

That's not how the story was supposed to go. Nope, not at all. But, it's how it's supposed to be. 

How many of us look back and realize that our story hasn't been written the way we intended? 

I didn't get to do everything on my list. 

My list has changed as my story has been edited. 

But that doesn't mean I still can't do something. 

The way my story has been written has left me with a small amount of time to focus on myself and what I want. I will probably never fulfill everything on my list, and I'm ok with that. But, just because I can't do everything, doesn't mean I can't do something. Just because life took a turn you weren't foreseeing, doesn't mean all is lost. 

I need to remember this, everyday, and you do, too.