Some of you may remember this post of mine from Facebook a
few weeks ago:
We need to change Aaron's pick-up time
for his day group from 10:30 to 9:30. We may as well have asked him to scale
Mt. Everest in shorts and flip-flops.....go swimming in hot lava....play in a
den of rattlesnakes.....sleep with a skunk.....walk on hot coals across
America..... Get the picture? This could be a tiny bit difficult.
His new pick-up time was to begin this past Monday……right
after setting our clocks back one hour on Saturday. Oh boy!
A double whammy for poor old ‘I like things the same and I don’t like
change and I like my clock to stay the same’ Aaron. To say I was dreading it was an
understatement.
I broke the news of the “fall back” time change to him on
Saturday afternoon. “Oh brother!” he
said as he turned and went up to his room to ponder this complexity of
life. The extra hour of sleep meant
nothing to Aaron. Order in his world is
all that matters, and this time change twice a year is full of disorder. Not to mention all the changing of clocks!
He and I were playing SkipBo that evening. We finished at 10:44, which was really 9:44
if the clocks had been set back……but was still 10:44 on most of our clocks
because we hadn’t changed them. Aaron,
though, was already operating on the new time.
I found this out when I started putting the cards away and said I was
ready to go to bed.
“If it’s 9:44 right now, maybe we should stay up now,” he
said as he watched me put the cards in their box.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because it’s NOT 10:00!!” he not-too-patiently explained
to me.
“Well, it’s really 10:44 but in the new time it’s 9:44,” I
began to explain.
But nope, it was already a done deal to Aaron. It was 9:44 now in his head, and he will not
go to bed before 10:00…..new time, not old time. Old time 11:00……new time 10:00. 9:44…..10:44……never mind.
The next day he realized that the digital clock by his desk
had not been changed yet. It’s a little
difficult to set, so Aaron depends on me or Gary to do it.
“Mom!” he said. “The
clock by my desk…..it hasn’t been changed behind yet.” I hear that statement nearly every year, and
it never gets old. I would never think
to describe our time change that way, but Aaron does. Fall back……fall behind……he does remember.
Our other huge hurdle was to occur on Monday, when we would
meet his group an hour earlier. Another
time change…..of a different sort…..but a change of time regardless. UGH!!!
Gary had suggested that something powerful might work to
ease Aaron’s transition into this dreaded new pick-up time. Something powerful….like sausage
biscuits. So on Sunday night I casually
asked Aaron if he would like to leave early enough the next morning to run into
Quik Trip to get a couple sausage biscuits.
He casually and quickly answered yes……and I nervously told him that we
would need to leave around 9:10. He didn’t
bat an eye. I relaxed…..just a little.
He was up early on Monday morning, and I realized that this
weekend time change would possibly work to our benefit. Aaron waking up earlier than normal was just
what we needed with this new pick-up time.
Wow!! Perfect timing for a time
change after all!!
We had a few initial bumps that morning. Some name calling…….almost yelling from Aaron…..a
couple refusals. But no throwing of
anything breakable……no ripping up of special papers…….no bending his
glasses. And when I went in to tell him
that it was nearly time to go, he was compliant. Another wow!
We left the house without incident and got to QT in time to
get his biscuits. We waited…..and waited……and
waited some more. After a long wait and
a few texts and calls, I learned that there was a miscommunication…..and that
the new time would start the next day.
Aaron’s ride came, but we had waited an hour. On most days, Aaron would have been beside
himself…….frustrated, angry, tired. But
not that morning. He was just fine as we
sat there watching birds and listening to music and talking….of course.
And all this week, Aaron has been wonderful about the new
time that he meets his group. No anger
or complaining or frustration……at all!!
This is truly a miracle. I can
only explain it as an answer to prayer, for I know that Gary and I were praying
about it, and I know that many of you were praying, as well.
So thank you for the prayers……and thank the Lord for the
timing of this huge change in time. The
clocks “changing behind,” as Aaron says, have been a blessing indeed!
The Bible verse that says our times are in His hands has
taken on special meaning to me this week!
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