Yesterday I was emotional. I wasn't having a pity party or feeling depressed. I was crying tears of joys. I thank God every day, but yesterday was different. I was praising Him in advance. I think He heard me yesterday.
We were supposed to be on the farm for dinner at three o' clock. Well at 2:00 I was still getting ready. Then Syd asked for a steak, which I didn't do a good job at hiding in the fridge. Who cooks a steak before going to Thanksgiving dinner? An autism family does.
So I prepared her steak, and we danced to the half time show of The Lions game. She packed her bag and included her sensory toys, coloring books, and Egyptian word search pages that she found on the internet.
We were all packed in the car like we were going on a road trip to Michigan. As we were driving she said, "The Ipad needs help." Harrison and I both looked at each other. I told Syd to enjoy the ride and we would figure it out.
My first response was to pull over and fix the iPad right away. This was a crisis, code red call on Jesus moment. But I didn't. I told Syd to name all of the family she would see on the farm. And she did. Then she sang Christmas carols, and recited facts about Egypt.
I told her that she could play outside or color with her cousin. If the iPad still wasn't working. The iPad will not ruin Thanksgiving.
When we made it to the farm. Syd was excited to see everyone. We watched the rest of the Lions game. She sat down in the living room and started working on a word search. When her cousin Taraji asked to play. Sydney shared her art supplies with her. She would look at me and say 'iPad?'. I just responded not yet, as a I poured a glass of wine. I was able to fix the iPad. But I didn't tell Sydney yet. She went in the den with her cousins and wanted to be with them.
Sydney shared her iPad with her cousins and showed them the pictures of Egypt. She was giving hugs and kisses. She even put on a dance show to Walk Like an Egyptian of course.
No meltdowns, no Australia. I sat back and looked at the generations of our family. I watched Harrison talking with his uncles and older male cousins. Thanksgiving 2017 was a success. On the way home. Syd noticed that McDonald's was open. So we stopped for french fries.
Things were out of my control. But my response was the key to the success of our day.