Spur of the Moment Weekend

Free from all the recent commitments we have been juggling, I guess we just couldn't relax straight out and so on the spur of the moment, did a road trip. Thursday afternoon, we decided that since we had a free weekend, perhaps we should go to the graduation part of the son of some old friends of ours, in Indiana! So we loaded up the car on Friday morning and drove to Indiana, killed time by driving downtown in rush hour traffic for supper and then after a night in a motel, went to the graduation party the next day. Boy were they surprised to see us pull up. We spent two hours chatting and catching up and then hopped in the car and drove all the way back to Iowa.

Their son was born two months before my eldest daughter and is autistic. He scores well above his age/grade level on standardized testing for every subject except for communication. Even his communication skills have improved dramatically over the years so that you can actually have somewhat of a conversation with him these days. He told me at the party that he is off to college in the fall to study Computer Science and I can't help but wish him well. His parents told me that the University of Indiana has a program for those who fall on the autism scale to help guide him through his college years. 

Back home, we did some gardening work and then attended the last concert of the season for our local symphony orchestra group. It is always one of my favorites because it is outside, in a clearing and except for one year many years ago, the weather has always been perfect. People show up early with picnic baskets full of foods and wines, to eat visit and listen to the performance. For me, it is a signal of the first days of summer. It went a long way to releasing the tensions of spending 12+ hours in a car over the previous two days.