Leaving on a jet plane. I’m sitting in the Ontario International Airport (California, not Canada) waiting to board a plane for this weekend. Pray for good travel mercies for Jon and I and also for Daniel who is being cared for by my in-laws. It’s the longest I’ve been away from him ever and I’m a bit unnerved. I’m incredibly thankful for my mother-in-law Victoria who is doing the lion’s share for the care.
Control Journal. Earlier this week, I got the idea to make a “control journal” for Daniel like you’d find on the Flylady website. It took me a couple days because I had to take pictures of the steps I take in doing stuff like giving Daniel a breathing treatment and I had to mark up the pictures with instructions but it turned out really well. If you think I should do a post on how I did it, let me know in the comments.
Awesome Trader Joe’s story. I was at Trader Joe’s by myself with Daniel a couple days ago and ended up in a checkout lane next to the automatic doors. Daniel’s stimming behavior is opening/shutting doors so this was a bit too tempting for him and so he made a run for it. In the process of trying to get him back and get my gift card out, I dropped my wallet and everything spilled out. The crew member checking me out looked at me and asked, “Is he autistic?”
“Yes,” I replied.
This crew member immediately grabbed another crew member, told him to watch Daniel for me, and helped me pick up the contents of my wallet and sort it. When all was done, he helped us carry everything to the car and asked me a lot of questions about Daniel and his autism. It turns out that he is a college student studying psychology and he recognized the signs. He made sure we got everything into the car, complimented me on how I was doing this all by myself, and told me that if I ever needed any help like this to just grab another crew member.
So… my deepest thanks to Thomas at the Claremont Trader Joe’s. You seriously made my day.
Why I seriously love Trader Joe’s and will give them my business at any opportunity. My experience in #3 is just the tip of the iceberg. I have never had a bad experience with them ever in the 4 years I’ve shopped there since moving back to the West Coast and part of the reason is that their employees are all really wonderful. They have mini-carts for kids with a “Customer-in-Training” flag on them and they are really helpful for teaching Daniel how to shop at a grocery store and what the names of various types of food are. (It also helps his gait to push the cart rather than riding in one of the big adult ones.) Their corporate culture is very laid back and their headquarters is a very plain two story building in Monrovia. (I interviewed to be one of their database people 4 years ago. I didn’t get the job but I can actually say I’ve interviewed at their corporate headquarters and that I was one of the top 10 candidates for the job out of the hundreds who applied.)
Huh. I checked Jon and I in on the Southwest Airlines site last night and when I got our boarding passes, Jon got position A-16 and I got position B-28. In what universe is that reasonable?!?!?!?
Southwest Airlines, BTW, is incredibly good with Daniel. We flew with them two years ago when Daniel and I went down to surprise my father-in-law for Father’s Day after not seeing him for almost 10 months. (Long story.) They were incredibly helpful in getting him on the plane and giving me help in schlepping everything.
Brett. The family committed to Brett (the adorable child on my sidebar) is in his country meeting him and the other little boy they plan to adopt. Pray for good travel mercies for them and a smooth stay with no bureaucratic hangups.
Another prayer request. Please pray for Hope, the adopted daughter of my friend (and fellow Lutheran pastor’s wife) Dalas. They got her home from her country and she’s currently in the hospital as they try to get her nutritionally stable. Dalas is living at the hospital with her and her two year old son and it’s pretty brutal.
For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.