Traveling

Vacations are a necessity for us.  And I'm not just talking about family vacations.  My husband and I take an "adults only" vacation every 2-3 years.  For us, it is a time when we can take off our "parent" hat and focus on being husband/wife and best friends.  After kids are grown and gone off on their own, it will be just us...and we want to be sure we are still well connected as a couple when that time comes.

Of course, when any parents travel (with or without kids), there are always worries.  When you have a child with epilepsy, that is definitely magnified!  Our trip was a little over a week after his latest seizure (see last blog).  It was not easy for me to get on that plane.  I struggled with myself...the mom/emotional side in me wanting to stay, in part in fear of what I had so recently seen and experienced.  Each time that side reared up, the other side of me was able to rationalize and calm the beast... to an extent.  In reality, I knew we needed this, and I found some comfort in the thought that God has a plan, and I need to trust in that plan, whatever it may be.  But, there were also things I needed to do in order to make this a successful trip.

One necessary piece that is needed to enjoy a vacation sans kids is knowing and being able to trust that my kiddos are in the best hands possible.  We have the blessing of having grandparents that watch the kids for us, so we know they are in loving and capable hands.

After we have kiddo-care arranged, its all about the prep work.  Making sure there are sufficient medications and supplements (Evan takes several, prescribed by his Naturopathic Doctor), writing out a schedule (medications, activities, bedtime routines, etc) to take guesswork out of it for the caregivers, ensuring there are medical releases signed, contact information (both for doctors, etc as well as for us), ensuring school knows who the primary contact will be while we are gone, and ensuring ample food for Evan's specialized diet is on hand.  I usually start on all of this at least a week in advance as I know I will think of things to add as the trip gets closer and as I move through my day.  You'd be surprised how many things we just do and don't really think about!

For this trip, since we were going to be out of the country, we also added an International plan to one of our cell phones so we could be contacted in the event of an emergency.  With this plan we also got unlimited texting, so were able to text here and there throughout the day if we wanted...and grandparents could get in touch with us as well.  ("Where are the hemp seeds?"...yup....I got that text and was honestly extremely happy because they could easily reach us if they needed ANYTHING!!)

We were fortunate to have WiFi in the condo we rented.  Well, I guess these days WiFi is just about everywhere, so maybe the word "fortunate" is becoming less applicable.  Pretty soon, if not "already" in some places, it will be expected!
But, I digress...
FaceTime!  This is where I was going with this.  Each morning, we would FaceTime (Skype would work, too) with the kids.  We were able to see they were doing well, talk to them before they started their day, make sure grandparents were surviving (is the wine supply holding up?).  At least for me, this allowed me to better enjoy my day and truly relax knowing all was going as it should at home.  Everything else I turned over to God.  At that point I had done all I could, the rest was in His loving hands.

The result...a successful and relaxing vacation!!