Dear Addie,
This week we went full force into our New Year of living and with that came an ongoing lesson of waiting and patience. Brother Gabe is at it again, craving even more knowledge in crafting his art with a new arsenal of skills on the horizon…allow me to introduce Gabe vs. tumbling. That’s right Ad, he’s dabbling in gymnastics now. Not exactly new to the Menzo family with you having done Special Olympics gymnastics many years ago, but also very new that it was a far different scene.
Here we go.
Now I’m not going to lie, we pulled into the parking lot for his first class and every ounce of me wanted to retreat before we even began. It was PACKED! Excuses started taking over my thoughts – it was already creeping into your bedtime routine, so the thought crossed my mind to just let Clara go in with him, but that would be letting my anxiety win and that would not be what I promised you in this year. We were going to get our social exposure (and hopefully not COVID) at all costs. Even if it resulted in a dramatic meltdown scene of being tired or overwhelmed (from you or me I’m not even sure which of us would fall faster at this point), but I wasn’t going to let that possibility stop us.
Masked up, a bag of necessities from extra clothes, pull-ups, water, masks, and sensory toys in hand we walked inside. Well, you jumped and stimmed feverishly, while the rest of us walked, but I digress.
First sensory challenge: stepping into the building. Our eyes took a hit as it looked like a smokey bar from back in the day. I wondered for a split second if any of the other parents suddenly wanted a beer while they were here? OK maybe that was just me, but seriously – yikes to my eyeballs! While I’m not going to pretend to actually know, but I “think” the hazy scene was the result of chalk the gymnasts apply to their hands before using certain equipment? I noticed you start to rub your eyes as we were checking in, but you didn’t seem to be bothered to a point of showing any sort of annoyance – or not yet at least.
After we checked in, the lady at the front desk directed us where his class would be meeting and where we could sit. My heart sunk as she pointed to an area of the gym that seemed like a mile away, where we would travel through a narrow walkway of a mass quantity of people and bleachers, with a bazillion strangers whose drinks you would be ready to take along the way. I’m not going to lie, this path to our destination wasn’t exactly designed for someone roughly 5’6’’ & 130lbs jumping and stimming with a loose walking gate and flapping hands. By the grace of God and a lot of stares as if you were some celebrity sporting headphones like you just got done with a sound check on your latest single, we hopped our way unscathed through the people and found a seat on the bleachers against the wall with you sandwiched between big sister Clara and me…you know, in case you decided to make a dramatic escape.
You spent the next hour sitting, occasionally stomping on the bleachers yelling “Stomp, stomp, boogie, boogie” stimming with delight and shaking your sensory slug (best toy ever btw) so much so that he took flight a few times, and let’s not forget your spelling J-U-M-P jump! Indicating you’d like to go jump on the trampoline, but maintained fantastic self-control in never making a-go at it. The lights, the noise, the haze, all assaults I would’ve put money on any other day for initiating a sensory meltdown just existed with drama.
When class was over, we gathered our belongings and headed upstream with the crowd.
As we situated ourselves back into the car, I couldn’t help but feel so proud of you (all of us really) and this accomplishment. We were really embracing our OTOD motto as we were solidly present to support Gabe that night. A strong reminder that the art of living often involves a good amount of waiting and patience. Addie before I made this declaration of living, I’m almost certain I wouldn’t even have tried such an endeavor with you and would’ve just resorted to playing with you in the car until he was finished, but it’s a new year baby girl and so far, we are winning!
Living – 1 Anxiety – 0
Great Job Ad!
Love,
Mom
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