Wow!  It is not often I get personal, but this week has been really interesting...

Some friends came for a visit.  They live far away so we only see each other once a year, though we chat online a lot.  As a result of the infrequency with which we see them, I tend to reflect a lot on the previous year while they are here.  This year, something very interesting happened.

On the day (night actually) that they arrived, we went to meet them and help set up their camper.  Of course, they arrived late because on vacations, things do not always go as planned.  By the time we finished it was very late and we had some hungry children!  We decided to treat everyone to a nice meal at a local restaurant- the only one open at that time of night.

As we pulled up, I had that familiar sinking feeling- the one that comes when you plan to take four tired, hungry kids with special needs into a loud (and often slow service) restaurant.  I knew if something was not done quickly, we would have four loud hungry tired meltdowns on our hands.  That's enough to get anyone thrown out of any restaurant!  ;~)  Thinking quickly, I asked the lady seating us if we could have a large plate of fries right away, before we even ordered our drinks. 

The fries came within minutes, just as the drinks were arriving and the children were getting restless.  Now, that may not seem like a big deal, but to an adult with Asperger's, it was huge!  It required not only a level of thinking and planning that, one year ago, would have been difficult even when I wasn't hungry and tired; it also required the confidence to ask the staff of this restaurant to do something they don't normally do.  A year ago, I would never have been able to do something like that.  It feels awesome!