RIP - Ms. Flynn

My mother-in-law passed away last night. She was in mid-stages of alzheimers and has had lung/breathing/heart issues for the last few years which have gotten progressively worse. Trips to the hospital went from yearly to biannually to quarterly. she was in the icu twice earlier this year ... I did not think she would come out either time. Due to these last couple of health drops she was moved from her ALF to a nursing care facility. It was the correct thing to do. A month and a half later, she goes to sleep and never wakes up. My wife and daughters did spend time with her for a typical, casual visit a couple of days ago. Glad they did.

It was not unexpected. But it was not expected to be last night, either. Told our kids this morning after breakfast and each of our two girls handled the news as I would expect for their differing personalities. Flynn, as you might expect, did not react (or even pay attention) at all ... until her middle sister cried. As sweet Flynn would typically do, he wanted to console his sister. Pure sweet love and innocence. Was a touching moment for me at his genuineness and pureness.

Took them to school a little late and of course that threw Flynn off schedule. As parents of an ASD kid know - that is often a recipe for failure. His class was practicing for - wait for it - grandparents day tomorrow. gotta love irony. Well Flynn completely fell to pieces. I assumed because of the morning routine being messed up, the kids singing (loudly and poorly) in the echoing auditorium, being the center of attention (which he hates) and other things. I realized that I needed to get out of the way so the teachers could get him on task.

But ... as i was leaving, the kids started to sing their next song. something along the lines of "today is grandparents day" ... or some such thing ... then it dawned on me! did Flynn really, actually GET what was going on ... did he realize that his Mimi did pass away ... did he understand that his grandmother was not going to be there for "Grandpals" day ... he surprises us from time to time at what he absorbs ... did he absorb the bad news and the reality that he won't have a grandparent there tomorrow?

my heart skipped, lump in my throat ... I will most definitely love on my son tonight with extra care. Just in case he is struggling to express his sadness from the mind of a slightly verbal 6 y/o with autism...