An Eye Opener

Last night I caught the end of one of my new favorite shows, Parenthood. One of the reasons I love this show so much is because a couple of the main characters have an autistic son, and I feel like the writers do an amazing job showing "real-life" situations relating to challenges parents/families face. Well last night's episode showed Adam & Krista (parents to Max, who has Asperger's - a "high functioning" form of Autism) trying to fit in time for a date. Things kept coming up and they worked through one roadblock after another. At one point Krista said as they were discussing when they could get away just the two of them, "Oh my gosh, we're going to become a statistic!!". They finally scheduled a time to go out to dinner just the two of them, but then the "date" ended up in an awkward situation at the restaurant where they ended up sharing a table with people they ran in to and were seated right next to (turned out to be Adam's sister and a guy she was out with who works for Adam - awkward). Not exactly the "alone time" they were looking for and desperately needed. The next evening they had an extended family celebration for their daughter who had been elected to the Student Council and after they ate dinner realized, "SHOOT, we forgot the cake!". So Krista & Adam ran to the store to pick up the cake...the show ended with a shot of the two of them sitting parked alongside a neighborhood street laughing, eating the cake - just the two of them. I couldn't help but smile seeing that. It wasn't a romantic setting that most people would envision for a "date", but for them it was perfect - some time to reconnect and laugh together. Made me realize how fortunate Chad and I are to have so many wonderful friends and family who are willing to help out so the two of us are able to have some time to catch up and not feel like we're each living our own separate lives over the course of each busy week. And it was also a great reminder to not wait around for the perfect setting to enjoy some time together...even if it's sitting in the backyard around the campfire just the two of us or sitting on the couch in a stupor after the kids are in bed. Make the most of it!

1 comments:

Becky said...

I saw that show, too, and have always appreciated the writers' ability to cast Max in a true light of an autistic kid. I think that little kid is a perfect actor for that and it does portray some real-life situations of autism in a family. Love that show and it also was a good reminder to me that we (me and Dad) need to spend that quality time together, even though it is just the two of us living here now. Love you!

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