Not Coincidence

This past week we spent an amazing week at the beach, at Watercolor, Florida (more pics and stories on that later).  It was a MUCH needed break from our daily routines and busy schedules.  I drove down last Saturday with the boys and my sister and daddy Chase flew down Wednesday night.

I can't really say this was a vacation because I have not been this exhausted in a LONG time!  Chase woke up the first morning at 5:45, the second morning at 4:45 (yep! you read that right), and before 6:30 every other morning the whole trip!  I shared a room with both boys, so guess what, we all got up when Chase did every morning!  And once he was up, he hit the ground running and didn't stop until he crashed at night...LONG days doesn't begin to describe it, but I wouldn't change this last week for anything.  Chase knows how to make the MOST out of every minute that's he's awake, that's for sure!

Despite the early mornings and non-stop GO GO GO I loved every second of making memories with my boys and my family.  My sister, dad and mom picked up the slack before Chase got there and I could not have done it without them.

Little Chase absolutely LOVED the beach, and the ocean especially!  He spent HOURS every day running through the crashing waves and laughing as they crashed in to him.  It made my heart full.

Miles didn't love the beach so much, but he loved all the attention he got from everyone and had just as much fun hamming it up for everyone.

A few days in to our trip I was holding Miles by the ocean, watching Chase run in and out of the waves, when a girl walked up to me.  I had noticed her earlier in the week sitting in the beach chairs near us.  She came up and said, "Excuse me, but does one of your sons have Autism?  My husband said he had overheard a mom with 2 young boys say that her older son had Autism and we just found out that our son may have it too, so I wanted to ask and talk to you about it, if it was him?"

The next few minutes of conversation are kind of blurry.  I'm sure even more so for her.  I was trying to sum up everything we have gone through in the last year and half, while my mom was talking at her, and she was asking questions...I really just wanted to reach out and hug her.  This sweet, vulnerable, overwhelmed mother was grasping at straws trying to make sense of this whole new world of Autism.

It threw me right back to October 2012, when we were last on that same beach with our boys, and right before we had gotten an official diagnosis for Chase.  All those emotions came flooding back to me and I remembered how scared and worried I was.  All the "What ifs?"

I was telling her (Andi) about Chase's iPad program Proloquo2Go so I told her I would go get his iPad to show her and come sit with her for a while and talk.  When I got to her chair she was talking to another couple next to her (Brandy and Pat) who also had 2 boys ages 3 and 5.  Well it turns out that Andi's husband had not overheard me, but had overheard Brandy and Pat talking about their oldest son.  After we got over the shock of what a small world it is, that we would all be dealing with Autism and all be brought together to this beach to meet, we spent a good hour talking and hearing each other's stories.  We exchanged phone numbers and emails and quickly realized we all needed each other, complete strangers, in different ways.

Brandy and Pat live in Louisiana and are more seasoned parents than Chase and myself.  They are such wonderful examples of patience, kindness, and Godly role models for their boys and the people they meet.  I could tell off the bat that they would be people we would look to for guidance and reassurance down the road, and people we would hopefully remain friends with long after this meeting on the beach in Watercolor, Florida.

Andi and her husband live in North Carolina and have a 2 year old.  He has not gotten an official diagnosis at this point but is in the early intervention therapies and they are on top of it already. Andi reminded me soooo much of myself a year and half ago.  Like I said earlier, I just wanted to hug her, and hold her, and cry with her, because I remember how lonely and stressful those months were right before and right after we found out about Chase.  I felt so alone and so scared and I can only imagine that's how she feels too.  She, like myself and I'm sure many other mothers, has spent countless hours reading and researching and trying to find answers to her questions.  She said that she didn't know anyone who was going through this or had been through it, who she could talk to, so of course Brandy and I offered to answer any and all questions she might have, ANYTIME.  I hope I can be some guidance and a listening ear to her, just as I found those strangers to be those things for me.

When you are dealing with your child having Autism it is a lonely and scary place.  Most of the time even your own families don't understand what you are dealing with and going through, which makes it even harder.  So in the midst of the worry and stress and loneliness, you reach out to anyone who you think may be able to relate, just so you don't feel so alone in this journey.

I do not think that these 3 couples from Tennessee, Louisiana, and North Caroline, all meeting on a beach in Florida is a coincidence.  I have no doubt that God put us all there at the same time for a reason.  We all had an instant connection and bond that will not ever be forgotten.  This chance meeting, is not a chance at all.  God orchestrated the whole thing and put us all in each other's lives for different (and much needed) purposes!

It still blows me away to think about how the whole thing happened and how the whole thing played out.  I am so thankful for the community of people that Chase has brought me in to.  This community of faithful fighters.  Even if some parents don't have the same "Faith" as we do, we all have faith in our children and a faith that keeps us fighting for them daily!