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It’s almost been five months since Austin’s not been in school; it was sweet to send him back today.

I must admit I had a slight lump in my throat and a knot in my stomach, this felt like such a big step, a big adjustment for both of us.  Austin, like many with autism and fragile X is a creature of routine and he grew quite fond of hanging with mom for the last five months.

He was dressed and ready to go about ten minutes early and did well with the waiting.

We got to the doors a little early and his aide wasn’t out there to greet him but there was no holding him back at this point.  I just asked – “Do you know where to go?” to which he replied “yep”.

My morning began with errands and phone calls, some outside of the normal routine.  I dropped our fee for the ambulance service bill for the breathing treatment (after the pepper spray incident at the school) to the board of ed, they said they’d submit the $100 fee through their insurance.  At home it was once again time to call the Henry Ford Health Systems billing service but not our typical call this time I had to make sure I wasn’t overpaid.  Saturday we received a check because we paid for services that ended up being covered by Hap and Medicaid.  There was no breakdown of what it covered so I only wanted to confirm we weren’t overpaid, that somehow the ER visits in which Hap did cover the co-pays weren’t included – that call went pretty smoothly.

Next I did a little shopping and banking, while packing Austin’s snacks in the morning it was evident that we wouldn’t have enough special treats to get through the week.  When I did arrive home I did what I’ve wanted to do for the last four months, turn the music up and dance J. 

I didn’t realize how much I missed my alone time with music until I had the opportunity today to sing and dance alone in my living room J. Two songs in and the phone rang (thankfully I was in the kitchen, next to the phone and heard it otherwise I might have gone on the “bad mommy list” for ignoring calls from school).  It was the school nurse, right after lunch Austin got a little sick. 

Now, I know Austin pretty well, we do have a little history together. I know what a sensitive gag reflux he has, I know if he eats too fast we will have consequences and I know he will at times try to manipulate us, manipulate situations – maybe just a little.  I’m sure he missed me and after a brief conversation with the nurse and with Austin it was decided he would ride the day out (I always pick him up early so he only had about 1.5 hours to go). 

So mom got back to her music, which was so much fun.  I use Gen’s old iPod in which I have some of her music and mine, when it shuffles it’s always interesting.  I think I covered five decades of music and almost every genre. The shuffle was quite interesting since we’d jump from the 80’s with the Eurythmics, to the 70s with Edwin Starr, to present day with a little S&M from Rhianna and I had a little fun with One Direction too. 

Austin did manage the rest of the day with no problems and as a reward I let him get a happy meal on the way home. The History Channel is once again on the TV and all is well.

Normal is going to feel good, normal I hope will last and “normal” will only be how I decide to define “normal” – it has so very many meanings.  Even the call from the nurse reminded me of normal - it is what it is. Looking forward to tomorrow morning and a few more tunes with the iPod on shuffle let my new and old normal begin again.