Just Float

Ross & Kevin at River Cats Game! The ultimate in FLEXIBILITY

When I was a little girl, my mother would always try and teach me to float. She somehow had it in her head that no matter what type of swimming situation you found yourself in, you could survive — as long as you could float.

So summer after summer, much to my chagrin, she would interrupt my play time and make me float. Ugh. I don’t ever remember my brothers being subjected to this, but since they are older than I, I’m assuming they had their turn. I’m sure they were happy that it was mine.

I’ve been thinking, lately, that my expertise in floating has infiltrated my life in other ways. “Go with the flow.” “Surrender.” “Go where the tide takes you.” I’ve always been a pretty flexible person, but the universe has been testing my floating skills a lot lately. I mean A LOT! And no matter how dire the situation, I never sink. I somehow always float.

Nothing has tested this ability more than autism. But here are some things that have happened in the last two weeks that, like my mom, interrupted my warm and fuzzy playtime:

• My master bath toilet blew up and ruined the floor. Nice. BUT…I get a shiny new bathroom, complete with new vanity and flooring!
• I came down with a little tummy bug. For the sake of my readers, I won’t go into detail with that one.
• I broke my pinky toe. And no…there is nothing a doctor can do about it.
• All but one of my Son-Rise volunteers bailed on me this week.
• I spent countless hours designing and redesigning my new website. Very frustrating at times.
• We are now officially down to one income this month. When you are used to two, it is PAINFUL.

Even through all of this craziness, I’m floating. So I think my mama had it right all along! Ironically, flexibility is something we are practicing and teaching in our playroom. Kids with autism have an incredibly hard time with it. I try to add something new to whatever we are doing. I’ll put on a hat or I’ll change up the story and see how Ross handles it. The more control over his body, his life, we give him, the more flexible he’s becoming.

But, more importantly, I have to model flexibility if I ever want Ross to know what it is and what it looks like. So — I’m floating.

Moms sure do know what they’re doing, don’t they?!?!