We debated about what to do for the upcoming memorial service for Matt’s uncle.  It’s 350 miles away… we care deeply… Matt’s work week/deadlines are INSANE right now… Matt will already be away from home for this whole weekend for another event… we want to support Matt’s parents and be available and be what family should be… we have 3 small children… what to do?  We thought about sending just Matt.  I have to say, the idea of being on my own from Thursday-Sunday (while Matt drives to Iowa for the memorial on Thursday then to Indy on Friday) sounds far less appealing than staying together as a family and just doing this Iowa trip as a group.  Yes, it’s hard to do a road trip with kids.  But at least they get to spend that time with their daddy rather than miss him for another 2 days!  Once we found out that the service is in the afternoon and we are able to drive in that morning, then drive home that same evening, we decided to do it!  Matt has to be at work on Friday anyway, so he only has one day to work with – we’re sticking together!

As I am prone to do, I wrote a social story for my kids about our upcoming trip to Matt’s uncle’s memorial service.  We’ll be in the car for about 12-14 hours in one day.  Our kids are traveling rockstars, but this trip pushes even their boundaries of sanity.  So we do mental preparation by reading a story about Zach and Rissa and Nathaniel and Mommy and Daddy and how they drove in a green van to Iowa.  I’m sure I could just relay this information verbally to them, but there is something about seeing it written in story form that reminds them of the exact points I want them to keep in mind.  If I want them thinking about something, I put it in the story.  If there is something that might concern them, I put it in the story.  Then we read it over and over, right up until the actual event.  By the time they are actually living the story themselves, it all feels familiar and they feel confident about handling the situation because they feel that they have been here before.  Children are truly remarkable.