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Me, Spontaneous? Never!


Let me start this off by saying that I am the kind of person who will make a “to do” list that will include “Plan something spontaneous.” And I see nothing wrong with that.

I received a call two weeks ago from my son’s case manager. Her supervisor, as part of her graduate school work, started a non-profit organization, called HOPE (Helping Outcomes for Parents with Exceptional children.)

 
The mission of HOPE is to promote healthy relationships for parents of children with disabilities by providing opportunities to engage in activities within their community. Providing parents with the opportunity to embrace and renew their partnerships to be strong for their children and maintaining the family unit. (Taken from their brochure.)

 
So the call I was getting was to ask if my husband and I would be willing to go on short notice the next week - Thursday and Friday to Myrtle Beach. I didn’t say, “Hell, YES!” – I am way too polite for that, but you bet your ______, I was thinking it. So Ryan and I drove to Myrtle Beach Thursday morning for a quick trip to the ocean. And did I mention Thursday was my birthday? Things just seem to come together sometimes.

 
After receiving the call I started looking up what “they” say about parents with a child with special needs. Despite a staggering 80-90% divorce rate, that may or not be true, I found good information. Oddly enough, a few bloggers wrote about marriage this past week too. Here are a few items worth reading:

 
Resources
I think more than anything that made this mini-vacation so great was that it was spontaneous. We never would have planned a trip away from the kids in less than a week’s time. We would have felt guilty taking off from work and asking friends to watch the kids…but because it was “given” to us, everyone jumped in to help make it work.

Marriage for everyone is hard work. Add any special situation, and it intensifies the experience. The communication, unconditional support, respect and friendship all need to be there for a successful relationship. We all have to take the time to develop it and then keep it going with very regular maintenance, which can very happily happen spontaneously! Who knew?

 

 

 

 

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