Autism Awareness Month Day 28

It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining and we were all on good form. It was my last day travelling to my office and the day of my leaving lunch. JJ also had a consultation meeting with teachers today so I reminded him not to stress about it but enjoy it. He started frantically looking for the letter to find out if it stated the room he needed to go to. It had been misplaced or shall I say someone had moved it to a place from a place where in my view it should have been left but it just wasn’t worth starting an argument about. I told JJ the office will know so he can ask them when he gets to school. JJ suggested that he can ask his friend instead as his friend had also been selected.
Nae-Nae was the only one home for dinner tonight so she selected what she wanted as JJ was being fed at school and I wasn’t due back until after 6pm once I collected JJ, besides I was having a big lunch with work colleagues I just didn’t think I would have room for dinner. This is unusual for me as I used to be able to eat people under the table, if you get that saying? What I mean is I could eat a lunch portion and when every one else is full I could keep going and going and going. More recently, as I’ve been working on my health and body more I have reduced my portion sizes so my stomach can not take lots of rounds of food any more. It’s good because I won’t pile on the pounds as much.
I dropped JJ and his friend to school as usual and then got stuck in a lot of traffic just after the school as I was approaching the motorway. Usually this would really stress me out as it would mess with the time I wanted to get into the office, however today I was so relaxed about it and in my mind I just shifted what I planned to do for a later time in the day.
When I arrived at work I felt a bit choked. I just thought, that would be the last time I needed to travel to that office again unless I chose to come and visit people. I walked through the door and saw “Sorry you’re leaving,” banners everywhere. I think they wanted me to cry. I was so touched that they were making such a big deal for me. But that was just the start of it.
I had a meeting with a colleague who is a dear friend and we took a trip down memory lane together. I could feel the water filling up in my eyes but I managed to sniff it back. We drove off to the venue where lunch had been organised and as I approached, it reminded me of the place I grew up as a child and the little village pub was very similar. My colleague who organised it all did so well.
I got inside and there was a beautiful raised area of the pub set up with posh table cloth and balloons. My friends had really taken it to another level and made me feel so special. People from different parts of the organisation and different parts of my journey turned up. I was overwhelmed by the number of people, especially as some had come of their days off work and some had specially driven for miles, left whatever they were doing just to get there. One of them actually thanked me for getting her out of work for the afternoon lol. I love them!
My manager gave a lovely speech and that was it I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. I wasn’t crying because I didn’t want to leave, I was just crying tears of gratitude for the years of provision, the people I have met and the skills I have obtained that will be useful for the next part of the journey. I gave a speech to that effect too and I really felt blessed to have had the opportunities I have had in the last 13 years. It’s been a great job which has given me a flexible working pattern which was vital for my family situation and when I moved from the large city to a rural town a new job was pretty much created for me more local to home. They have been so supportive around the needs of my children and my need to just go sometimes as things had kicked off at school and allowed me to have mornings off when I was developing some of my business and charity work, delivering services within schools. It’s just been amazing.
When you have children with additional needs being a mum working full time is a big deal in my view, especially when they are younger. Some nights I will have no sleep because either one of them was up a million times a night most nights but the morning came and life still had to continue, work had to continue. I was blessed to be able to work from home a lot so on that day when I could hardly open my eyes it was good to not have to drive a million miles to get somewhere because I was responsible for my diary so I could move things around as required. I will really miss that place but at the same time I’m looking forward to the next phase in my journey.
My colleagues/friends blessed me with an incredible value of gift vouchers from an online shop where I can buy musical instruments, recording equipment or resources. I was so grateful. I had lots of other presents too which made me feel so so special! It’s really nice to be appreciated by so many people for the things you do. I’m quite a modest person so I don’t like to blow a trumpet very often. I actually can’t play the trumpet. It’s one instrument I have never tried actually but that and the sax have always interested me. Perhaps I’ll pick it up in the future? Anyway back to what I was saying… I don’t sing my own praises often even though I know I put on 110%. It hasn’t always been recognised by all people all of the time, however the majority of people have seen the incredible work I have done and acknowledged it publicly. I don’t have to question whether I am doing a good job as the fruits speak for themselves.
I drove back to the office with all my goodies, worked there until it was time to go and collect JJ from school. I hugged those that were still in the office at that time and we wished each other well. There are a few people leaving after me as there’s a big shake up and restructure in our organisation at the moment, so I encouraged them that when their departure day comes, know that they will be ok and there is life after this organisation. It could be a much better life too. I totally believe that for me. It’s time now!
I drove to JJ’s school in a reflective mood and spoke to a sister who also reminded me of the wonderful journey ahead. As I was approaching JJ’s school, Nae-Nae was Facetiming me but as I was driving I couldn’t see her but it still came through the hands free station in my car so I could talk to her. She told me she misses me so I need to hurry up and come home. I’m not usually out till late on a Thursday so I knew why she felt like that. She was also stuck on a maths problem but instead of asking MrJK to help her she was calling me. I explained that I couldn’t help her until I came home but she was having none of it. I pulled into JJ’s school car park, picked up my phone so I could see her and we worked through the question together. Thank God for technology like that. It’s a lifesaver sometimes.
JJ approached the car as we were almost coming to the end of the sum so I drove the car and continued talking to her. JJ got involved and helped to finish it off. I rushed her off the phone thereafter and told her to carry on and we’ll be home soon. I did that as I wanted to hear all about JJ’s day. I have to get the balance right and ensure both children get my attention. JJ could be swallowed under the carpet because he is so quiet and so good and the one that bangs the drum harder is usually the one that is heard but I can’t let that happen in my house.
I asked JJ how the event was and he was very complementary. They fed them, they let them watch a film and then they consulted with them about improvements to certain provisions. JJ stated that he was confident to share his ideas and recommendations and he was so proud of himself. I asked whether he shared it with teachers he didn’t know and he answered yes. I used that as a way of letting him know that he can talk to people that aren’t familiar to him. It is something that he normally struggles with so I wanted him to know when he doesn’t overthink it, he can actually do it. He smiled because he didn’t think about it like that but that was an acknowledgement for him that all things are possible. I advised him that I received replies to my email so the situation he described yesterday will be resolved shortly. He was very pleased about that.
When I got home I showed the children all the presents I received and they looked so proud. JJ even commented “Wow mum they must really love you.” I agreed lol. Nae-Nae saw the box of chocolates, ripped the box open just to see what the chocolates looked like. She read the labels and asked me if she was allergic to any of the fillings. Every time she asked me if she was allergic to an idea and everytime I answered no she would ask me how I knew that to be true and what age did she taste that item. Trust me it was a really tedious conversation but I have to flow with her as she won’t stop until she has all the answers.
She walked off and I thought phew. However a few seconds later she reappeared with a table knife as she planned to cut open one chocolate from each flavour and dissect them. Oh no, she wasn’t doing that to my present. She pleaded and begged so I agreed that she can have one chocolate that she can cut up. She picked the White chocolate and raspberry one. Funny that, I had white chocolate and raspberry cheese cake for lunch. Anyway she cut it in half and then into smaller pieces. She was testing it for texture, smell and taste. She asked me if she ate it how long it would take to digest. Yes this is another thing Nae-Nae does. She won’t eat food items until she is sure that what she has already eaten has fully digested. For example if she eats dinner at 4pm she will ask how long that mean takes to digest and if I say in 50 minutes she will not touch another food item until after the 50 minutes lapses.
So you may be thinking how I know how long each food item takes to digest, well she makes me look it up on the Internet and if it’s not there oh I have to make it up or do a sneaky thing whereby I will type the name of the meal on my notes page on my phone, put how long it takes to digest, making it up of course. I take a screen shot and edit the photo so it doesn’t look like a screen shot and then show it to her as if I got the information off a website. Lol! I know it’s ingenious. It works every time! This allows me to help to organise family meal times and snack times. If she feels that a food item hasn’t been digested she won’t eat another thing.
I knew she had not long eaten dinner so I showed her how long her dinner took to digest and made up that chocolate takes 5 minutes to digest so it wouldn’t prevent her from eating a light snack in the evening at the time she usually does. One day she will work out that I was making it up but for now any means necessary.
Nae-Nae finished her maths test under my supervision and she was so happy she managed to finish it. She has a set time for everything and at 7pm it’s computer time. She wasn’t on course to finish her paper before 7 and usually this will cause her distress but today amazingly enough she told me she would keep going until she finishes and asked if she could have more computer time the other side. I never quite know what she means as I haven’t ever given her a set time so when she would say “It’s wasting my computer time so I’m going to have to get some more,” I never quite get it but I just humour her.
I was laying on my back on her floor and as she finished her work and took it to her bag she just couldn’t resist stepping on my belly with one foot and then laughing. This child is so horrible to me sometimes. She thought it was hilarious. I told her it could have hurt me but she laughed and said “If I did it harder maybe.” She’s such a clever clogs so some days I just let her crack on with that.
As I was setting my bath I received a call from a sister who asked if I would speak to another person who would benefit from talking to me about something. I agreed and had a bath then called the person. It was a really beautiful conversation and it just reminded me that I was born for that task as well. I gave her some useful information and that was it. Some times we are brought to a thing just at the right time. It was a confirmation that a new long overdue phase was amount to start. Everything I had worked on over the years has been for such a day like this. I’m so excited!
My back was hurting a little bit but I think it was just exhaustion so I asked MrJK to give me a relaxing massage so I stripped down and he did without hesitation. Well… He knew other things could follow on from that so why would be object LOL!!! I can see my family members cringing at this as you read. My brother is probably reaching for his sick bucket. Don’t worry, no further details will be written so you can keep your eyes open.
After that I went to bed ready for my final farewell to one of my organisations. It’s been a wonderful day!
Peace and Love
MrsJK