Finding Time for Myself

A week or so ago I get an email from Marques that says, “Hey Summer would you like to write a blog?”  “I’d love to write a blog I think to myself, but what would I write about?”  I’ll think about that later, I’ve got plenty of time. Then my week starts.

Like most special needs families, the crisis always comes without warning. This week the crisis began with the MSP, or Measurements of Student Progress (MSP). My son has Autism and as a result has a number of accommodations for the MSP. Special seating extended time and small group setting. The problem is he doesn’t want to have Autism.  He wants to be like everyone else, but he isn’t and he needs to pass this test.

The week was going along smoothly until at the last minute (and by last minute I mean the day before the test), the school lets Kenny know he will be taking the MSP in the special education class all day. Now I forgot to tell you that Kenny isn’t the only person with Autism in my family my husband has Autism as well, and as a result we sometimes have a difficult time communicating with each other (go figure). But we are reasonably committed spouses so we attend counseling to learn a better form of communication than slammed doors and rolled eyes.

So there we are sitting in the counseling office talking about why I never have time to do anything for myself, when my cell phone starts blowing up. It’s Kenny of course, freaking out about where he is going to take the MSP.

“You should turn your phone off,” my husband says. I roll my eyes and remind him our son is not home from school yet. So the remainder of our session then becomes about how we are going to advocate for Kenny the next morning. Time well spent. Kenny spoke to the school the following morning and Kenny took the test in a general education classroom, and then we were at his sisters cleaning out her apartment until midnight last night, but more about that next week. If I find the time.