July 19, 2004

• A thank you & a drenched wench?!

  
  

  Before I get started on my weekend recap, I’d like to thank you all for your supporting comments regarding the new budget for Autism research.  It does my heart good to know that so many people are recognizing that Autism is something that is important and is a real threat to our children.

  
  

  I read one of my fellow xangan’s sites yesterday and her son has Autism as well.  She was talking about the emotional roller coaster that Autism puts a parent through.  It was difficult for me to read only because I know those emotions all too well, but I was glad to see that she was sharing that with her readers.  People need to understand how life shattering it is to have your child live life with this horrible disorder and how it affects everyone around you…not just your immediate family, but friends and other relatives as well.  It is truly devastating.

  
  

  I’m blessed to have such a wonderful, affectionate, loving son.  However, when he slips into the darkness of Autism, it’s the saddest thing in the world because that child that is normally so affectionate turns somewhat violent and cold.  It’s beyond heartbreaking.  If I could trade places with him I would in a heartbeat, but I can’t and I know that I can’t…which makes it even that much more difficult to watch.  He is my baby and I love him more than life itself, but even I can’t save him from the darkness of Autism…but I can and do help him fight it every single day and I will continue to do so for the rest of my life…that I can promise.  

  
  

  

  
  

  Okay…moving on…

  
  

  Jason and I took our oldest daughter, Dora to the Renaissance Festival on Saturday.  We didn’t arrive until around 1pm…they open at 10am…so we had to park in the outer-perimeter parking area.  In other words, we had to hike to the entrance!!

  
  

  It was a bit muggy outside, strange for Colorado, but the humidity was high due to a storm that had just passed the night prior and a storm front that was moving across the area.  Now the forecast called for partly cloudy skies and a high of 85° …not bad eh?  Yeah…that’s what we thought as well.  So we dressed in shorts and light clothing and comfortable shoes.

  
  

  After hiking our way to the entrance, and having to stop for me to catch my breathe after the big hill, we entered into the festival grounds.  The grounds are in an evergreen forest in the foothills.  The scenery is very pleasing and it does take you back a bit once you hear the festive music and see the cast of characters dressed in the renaissance fashion.  In other words, I was totally in my element there.  I love that style of clothes and have always been intrigued by that time period.  So this was right up my alley!

  
  

  We walked around looking at various shops filled with clothing and artifacts.  We took in a few stage acts and then it began to thunder and lightning.  The clouds had rolled in and the sky was becoming dark…partly cloudy my ass!  We decided to head back to a shop that Dora had wanted to purchase a necklace from and just as we walked around the bend we heard this huge boom and lightning flashed so bright that it lit up the entire sky! It sounded like a bomb had gone off!!  Everyone immediately ducked and ran into the nearest shop to take shelter.  Then it was as if the sky was unzipped and the water was released…it was pouring!! 

  
  

  It continued to rain steadily (a good soaking) for next hour or so…and had no signs of letting up. Yup…we were in the middle of an evergreen forest, surrounded by large trees, in the middle of a lightning storm…good place to be eh?   When it finally let up a little bit, we started to make our way towards the exit, but it started back up again so we stood in yet another shop to see it would pass.  It didn’t.

  
  

  Finally, Jason convinced me to just hike it back down to the car so we could go home considering it didn’t seem as if we’d be doing much more there.  So we did just that and were quite drenched by the time we got to the car.

  
  

  We got home…and it was a bit colder outside then it was when we’d left that morning,  not to mention we were still wet from walking in the rain, so we went in the house, changed into some dry warm clothes…packed up the boys and headed over to the buffet for dinner!  Hey…all you can eat BBQ…who wouldn’t want to go right?

  
  

  So that was it…our renaissance adventure!  Hopefully we’ll be able to go back again when it’s a bit dryer outside and see the rest of it, considering we only go to see about a third of the grounds.

  
  

  I hope your weekend was dryer than mine!!

  • 11:38 am
  • 12 Comments