The kids are finally out of school and summer programs are easing into projects and days at the pool, but there’s one thing that I’m still trying to wrap my mind around. I’ve shamefully fought it for three years now, dreaded it and done everything I could think of to ward it off. But this year, I’m giving into it…embracing it. It’s a part of us because he’s a part of us.
People with low executive function need boundaries – a daily paradigm, as it were. Or, at least this is the truth of Chase. And it’s a truth that makes summer and it’s loose, last minute plans a waking nightmare. Okay, perhaps not a complete nightmare, but it definitely ranges from marginally uncomfortable to “Mom’s going to sell y’all on E-Bay if you don’t give her a moment of peace!” For Chase, it’s not enough to know there will be a lunch, a dinner, and some kind of activity for the day. If he doesn’t know what’s for dinner, for lunch, what we’re doing and approximately when, he becomes agitated, confused, and will repeatedly ask (and by repeatedly, I mean every few minutes until we do whatever it is he’s asking about – so sometimes, for hours) what comes next. Without a doubt, low executive function and short term memory loss are a wicked combination. (and if you don’t believe me, please feel free to reference last month’s Facebook post on Chase’s burying his sister’s cell phone in the front yard)
For years now, I have only been able to cope with life by living in the moment. Not worrying about the next thing ’til it’s in front of me. If you don’t commit, then you will never be disappointed by what’s not going to happen, right?
And yet, now, I’m committing. Every day. For me. For him. For sanity. I’m committing to the day.
I will push him: he doesn’t always get to know every single event of the day in the exact time it will occur. But he will push me too: I need to have an idea and have it written out because it helps him feel safer – better.
This is love.
So, I will learn to plan the next day in faith and he will learn to live this moment in grace.
And we do it all in chalk so the plans are only ever dust in the wind…
Moment by moment.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)