My aunt passed away last Monday. Hard to believe that she is gone. She was the life of the room. Everyone would gravitate towards her no matter where she was or who she was with. She was fun loving and great to be around. She just went to sleep one night and didn't wake up the next morning. The peaceful sleep. She left behind 3 children. 2 are grown the baby of her family is 16 years old and it's hard for her to be without her mom, I'm sure.
And Monday was not my best day at all. As I was walking around the neighborhood I was told to go home because my mother needed me. Some would call that an Angel and others would say intuition. Me, I know it was the voice of my Lord. By the time I got back home my mother was in tears and that's when I learned the horribly sad news that my aunt, my mothers little sister had gone to be with The Lord. By the time lunch time rolled around the school was calling to say that Doodle had an ear infection and needed to go home from school.
The funeral was on Thursday and almost all of the family was in attendance. At least the ones that mattered. You know how it is with family. Some you want to see, others you pray you don't run into. And as you can imagine a funeral home is not autism friendly. The lighting was not in Doodle's favor, which is why we spent so much time in my minivan. She had her crayons and markers, drawing papers, movies with a fold down screen and snacks in the car along with plenty of water just in case she were to get thirsty. The emotions alone in the funeral home had poor Doodle's head swimming. It was really confusing for her. Some were laughing because my aunt lived a happy funny life and some were crying because they would miss her so much. That's just too much of an emotional roller coaster for her and she didn't know which way to go. She couldn't be just regular Doodle because the room was charged with confusion to her.
I was relieved when my best friend finally arrived and was promptly walked around to meet everyone in the family. My best friend has attended every single family funeral for as long as he's been my friend and that's 18 years worth of funerals. My best friend who is also Doodle's Godfather has known my family way before he and I became best friend. He's the only one that can truly handle Doodle and her emotions. He sat in the car with us for about 30 minutes and was able to get Doodle out of my minivan when it came time for us all to go back inside to pay our respects one last time.
So how did Doodle do at the funeral. Pretty good for the most part. When we first walked in around 10:15 that morning Doodle promptly tried to clear the room with screaming out, "She's DEAD!?" Then she discovered the little break room and the fact she didn't want to be there. Which is why we spent so much time in the minivan. At the last call to pay our respects and we went back inside Doodle went straight to one of the couches and laid down, sticking her tongue out of her mouth and pretended to be dead.
After the grave side service was finished, Doodle was back to normal with her emotions. So the rest of the day was pretty typical and normal for Doodle. But for the rest of the week and the weekend it's been an emotional roller coaster for me and stressful as there is so much work that I have to do for Doodle's line and stores that I've lined up to carry her line.
Today, the following Monday I have just been very stressed out with work and poor Doodle and her autism just weren't helping. This past week she's been obsessed with frogs. So I took this time to say we needed to go to the beach. Straight to the Sea Lab, since there was no school today as it's teacher work day. Doodle enjoyed the day and I enjoyed being with her. I was a happy loving mom with not a single responsibility to deal with. Just enjoying Doodle and her child like wonder. She even picked a fight with a crab. And it was hilarious! There was this huge tank with lots of fish swimming around in it. At the bottom of the tank was a crab. One lone crab. And Doodle went back and worth beside the crab who was behind the thick glass. Back and forth for a good 15 minutes. And this crab was getting so hot under the collar with her following him/her. At one point the crab looked at her and put it's claws up as if to say let's fight. To see her face light up at each one of the tanks was such a wonderful experience. Getting to touch some of the sea creatures and seeing Sea Horses and the different colors that they come in.
Seeing the alligator or as Doodle used to call them Alli-da-dor. We watched for a bit as it pretended that he wasn't real. You know those alligators can hold their breathe for a long time. And his throat moves like a frogs does before it starts making noise. After we left the Sea Lab we went to the beach. After we took our shoes off and started to wade in the water is when I noticed the jelly fish. They were washing up on shore. They weren't as big as they were when I was a kid but you still have to keep an eye out for them as they can still do some damage to you, dead or alive. We collected sea shells and little sea rocks and we found a few pieces of sea glass. It was a perfect day. And how do you top off a perfect day? Late lunch at Dairy Queen. Doodle and I's favorite restaurant. We love it at Dairy Queen but only eat there once every 4-5 months. It's cheaper to eat at home.
She loves it at the Sea Lab and we can't get out there enough for her to enjoy what she loves most during her childhood. She'll only be a child once and it's time I need to remember that. She is growing up so fast. And childhood only lasts in the blink of an eye.
I'm going outside to spend the rest of the day with Doodle and of course be an adult and do laundry. You guys have a great day!
Photo opportunity with Ojo from Bear in the Big Blue House
Not the crab she got in a fight with. This one wasn't interested in her shenanigans as it was busy eating his buddy.
A photo that Doodle took of the beach
The crab Doodle got in a fight with. The fight ended when she turned her fanny to it and tried to sit on the glass. At that point he figured it was time to head for the cover of the sand.
Touching the Sting Ray's and sharks
Just hamming it up
I really liked these fish chilling in the barnacles.
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