We’re coming up on our vacation and… it’s going to be interesting.

I mentioned a while back that we’d decided to take the plunge and schedule a vacation with the kids.  It’s only a couple of weeks out now – it’s scarier to think that we’re actually coming up on a vacation, more than what the vacation is – and… we’re getting ready.

So last night, our group leader from our Autism on the Seas group called to give us an orientation for our trip.  (Just so you know – I’m probably not going to post while we’re on the ship.  So don’t expect a blow-by-blow of our vacation.)  I’ll admit straight-up that I wasn’t sure what to expect before we had the conversation – my wife was actually home last night when she called initially, while I was at curling, but tonight worked out better for the conversation for both of us to be present for it – and so…

The group leader seems like a very nice, enthusiastic person, an educator with thirty-plus years of experience with education.  There’ll be one staff member for every two kids, which works out well for the Monster, since he’s really easy about things in general.  And I’ll admit that a lot of what we talked about on the phone was stuff that we did cover when we went on the ship tour here.  But it’s also good to hear the actual details about the group trip we’re going to be on, how they’re going to swing it with the families who are going (and exactly how many families are going) and…

This might be weird, honestly, but I’m actually glad to be doing this with a group of other families who have children with Autism.  It’s one of those things where it’s like they’re your tribe, that they get what it’s like to be dealing with this situation, and there are siblings coming along too (so R won’t be the only sibling).  Everything that was explained to us is very nice and smooth and simple, and at least I think my wife and I are hoping that we’ll end up having a good time with the other families given the commonalities and all.

Still, it’s a little odd to me to be thinking about a vacation this time of year (we either go away over the summer, or for a week deep into the holiday season, but not generally in the middle of the school year), so we’ll see how I feel about it when it’s just a smidge closer…