Great Expectations

I know I've talked about expectations a lot.  And not just in my blog either.  My therapist and I talk about it every single time I am in her office.  I talk about it with my friends and with my mom and with my husband.  "What is WRONG with me?"  "Are my expecations REALLY just TOO high?"

I think the answer MUST be yes because I find myself disappointed kind of a lot.

Our recent spring break was no exception.  We decided to drive to either North or South Carolina (I can't remember which, seriously -- it was RIGHT on the border) to visit my husbands parents who recently moved into a retirement-type community there.  Should be fun, right?  Warm weather, pools, etc.  Road trips are always a good time, right?  RIGHT?

I won't go into the minutia of why this trip did not go exactly as planned.  But let's just say we brought our friend Murphy with us because anything that COULD have gone wrong, did.  No, REALLY.  I'm not even kidding.  From the pool having not-so-kid-friendly hours to NO hours at all for kids during the week to driving one hour to the beach to find that it's been closed due to some toxic waste being dumped in the lake.  The week was chock full 'o disappointments.  

And this is the WORST kind of disappointment.  Because let's be honest.  *I* personally was not uber excited about donning a bathing suit and hitting the beach.  But Luke had his bathing suit on at 6:30 in the morning sooooooo..........................

kid dissapointment.

THE. WORST.

We itterupt this regularly scheduled blog for a quote break:

"Let's face the music and dance."  Irving Berlin

And now back to your program.

There it is.  I LOVE that quote.  And it was on my "Keep Calm And Carry On" calendar for Wednesday.  The day we went to the beach.  Only I didn't know that until I came home beceause it's not like I took my calendar with me!  I DIGRESS!  But it is a little ironic, no?

Here's the deal:  Sometimes, "the music" doesn't meet your expecations.  It's not what you "planned."  and heck, sometimes, it's just flat out not what you WANT it to be.  But.........


dance anyway.

The beach was closed.  So we found a rec center in Charlotte with an awesome indoor pool and slide.  Do my kids look like they're.........disappointed?
 Nope.  Not the beach.  And sure we were inside of a REC CENTER on an 82degree day and yeah it cost us $40 to walk in the door...BUT....dance anyway.  Or in this case.  Swim.  Cuz water is water is water is water. 

So maybe it's not about expectations.  Or maybe it is.  Maybe it's about changing your expectations.  Readjusting the music in your own mind and finding a way to dance.  CHOOSING to dance.

Maybe you were expecting the mamba but guess what?  The cha cha is pretty fun too!

So we left the Charlotte area and headed to Gatlinburg.  I LOVE GATLINBURG.  The Smoky Mountains are stunning.  I LOVE THEM.  They somehow speak to my soul.  But that's another topic.  What do you think happened once we got to Gatlinburg?




Yeah, that's us taking shelter in Mc Donalds.  Again, look how miserable my kids look.  Oh wait, they don't.  So we trekked it back to the hotel in the near-monsoon and the kids jumped on the beds for 2 hours and laughed hysterically.  Luke said in the morning, "I'm going to miss this hotel."

And Luke's the one with autism.  And he's NOT normal, right?  Because he's the ONLY one of the bunch who never missed a beat, never missed a smile, he just kept right on dancing though every moment of this trip.  Maybe Luke's the one who's got it right and the rest of us are all just thinking too damn hard?  TRYING to damn hard?

To meet the expecations that society thinks we should?
Or the expecations that WE have created for ourselves?

Come on now, it's World Autism Awareness Day on Saturday.  I *HAD* to bring it back to autism, right?

Listen, I blog to give y'all food for thought.  So here it is -- food for thought.  Think about it.  Think about the expectations you've created for yourself.  Think about the expectations that society has created for you.


And dance anyway.

To the beat of your OWN drum.  Or............ ipod.





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