Rolling home

[jay]

I'm writing this in the kiddie lounge of the Coast Starlight, between San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles northbound towards San Jose. We're on time and should arrive around 8:45pm, in time for me to send this in this evening. The lounge is an open (padded) room on the bottom floor of one of the 2-level coach cars. It is the only available lounge area, because Amtrak is using the observation car as an overflow coach. They had a derailment two days ago on this route, which damaged several cars... so this train consists of backup equipment and is short a coach car. The southbound is passing us on the next track, so we must be at least halfway home.



This week was supposed to have been a whole week of vacation for me, scheduled months ago... then a financial review was scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. So I didn't feel guilty at all about leaving the meeting Wednesday as soon as my part was done, annoying the host NASA guy (by not staying for the final wrap-up). Then Pat and the kids picked me up and we cruised around LA for awhile, through Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Griffith Park and along Mulholland Drive. Then laundry and two strong drinks and an ill-received LJ entry.

Disneyland... David was not in a mood to enjoy it. He opted out of most of the major attractions (so we had to parent-switch) and complained during most of the day. His high-functioning autism just isn't well-suited to unscripted, ad-hoc, noisy activities... but we slogged through, given lots of deep-breaths and parent-kid handoffs. James and Kevin together are a third of the parenting work that David requires. I try to keep my temper, to remind myself that it is the developmental disease speaking through him. By the time we returned to the hotel, Pat and I had begun turning our suppressed/deflected stress (rage, even) on each other... we weren't on speaking terms overnight.

But otherwise, the day was pleasant... light crowds, no more than a 20 minute wait for anything. Beautiful weather. And Kevin was goggle-eyed for much of the day. (smile)

Back home... to work, to likely poly-drama (given yesterday's postings), to the beginning of school on Monday.

Comments

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Ugh.

You were having a much nicer time in my strange, rambling dream last night. It seemed to be a convention, and involved lots of great people, good food, warm and friendly hugs, and... kittens. Yes, definitely cuddly kittens.

It was nice.

[luvlyrita.livejournal.com]

an ill-received LJ entry

brian, you were only being honest
i like honesty, even when i'm not in agreement

sorry you didn't have more fun at disneyland
i used to go there a lot for the few years i lived in la
my sister still lives there, so sometimes we go with her kids
there is a lot less pressure to "have fun, dammit!"
when you're a local

welcome home

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Disneyland was actually fun, even with David's struggles. It helps to not feel that one must see and do everything in one day...

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Thanks for making it safe for me to be honest about my feelings!

[hopeforyou.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear that David had a difficult time of it, and both you and Pat in turn. What sort of strategies do you have to cope with his autism that have worked? Where do you go for advice on such matters?

I haven't had a chance yet to respond to the poly-related post, and when I read it, it was early in the response cycle. Maybe I can shed other light on the subject that would provide hope and insight.

sinboy and I are both looking forward to your return and would like to go out with you one night later in the week for molten chocolate cake at Zucca. Just let us know when you're up for it. =)

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

David does best in structured, scripted environments and interactions. He's low-stressed in habitual, predictable settings. And he's seeing a therapist at Stanford, for the past 10 months, and gets special-ed assistance at school.

Cake at Zucca this week sounds lovely...