A weekend in Corolla, NC

My wife and I were invited to spend the weekend with friends at a cottage in Corolla, NC.  It's been a long time since we've left Julie with the grandparents for longer than one night, so she was a little bit nervous about being without us Friday through late Sunday.  Truthfully, we felt kinda bad because we had to cancel a horseback riding lesson for Julie that was planned for Saturday morning, and she made no bones about how upset she was that we cancelled her plans so we could make our own plans.

We explained to her that in a relationship, you have to continuously remind each other of why you married each other through dates and getaways.  At first, she didn't believe us, but after explaining that this was NOT our attempt to get away from HER, rather a way for us to strengthen our relationship so that we can be better spouses for each other in good times and bad.  I think she got it after a few words of encouragement.

Well, our routine has always been to call her before her bedtime no matter where we are, and so we continued that routine Friday night.  She didn't sound too excited to be left with the grandparents, but she was not upset.  Her anxiety seemed to be in check and appeared to be doing okay.  After the phone call, Beth and I stayed up until 1:00am playing dominoes with our friends and truly having a good time.

Saturday I played golf with two of my friends while the ladies shopped and relaxed together until we returned to the cottage.  Then it was on; Wallyball!  I'd never heard of such a thing but I have to tell you it was such fun to play volleyball in a racquetball court!  I had no idea my friends were so competitive.

When we returned for showers and dinner and another round of dominoes, we made our phone call to see how Julie was doing.  While Julie didn't confide in me she did confide in her mom that she had pulled out a few more eye lashes.  The good news is that after Beth asked Julie if it made her feel any better, the answer Beth got was, "no."  So, she's now more aware of her triggers for OCD type behaviors (away from mom and dad, and tired (my mother-in-law is a really loud sleeper) and those are the times she's at her weakest.  It was a good learning opportunity.

Julie had to go to her grandparents high school reunion, so of course all these people were fawning all over her about how pretty and tall she was (that felt good to Julie because she is shorter than most of her friends at school), but was a very good socialite for the night.  However, she was very anxious about the food they served her.  Before going to the luncheon, my mother-in-law had called ahead of time to request that something nutritious be available for Julie to eat due to her GI anxieties.  She was assured that something good would be ready for her, but instead, they served her chicken tenders and fries.  Needless to say, Julie did not eat that and her grandmother fed her some good food later at home.

That didn't stop Julie from asking Beth, "am I going to be okay?  Will my stomach bother me, because it feels kinda weird."  Of course, Beth explained to her that she was probably hungry after going so long at the luncheon without food and had to wait until she returned to the grandparents to eat.  That eased her mind.

Well, Beth and I returned from Corolla around 6:00 yesterday evening, met Beth's parents at the Wendy's nearby so we wouldn't have to drive all the way to the grandparents house to pick up Julie.  On the way home she seemed very cheerful and laughed about how much food grandma gave to us (she has a really bad habit of sending food home with Julie and it's just come to a point of laughter now.  I used to get so upset over it, but it's not worth it anymore) and she even wanted to feed Julie "toast" every time she ate, which just tickled Julie's funny bone.

Tonight, Beth had roasted a chicken in the oven and when I returned home from work the entire house was covered in a fog of smoke from the roaster.........and Julie was fit to be tied.  She had apparently been raising her voice and screaming about how she's going to smell like chicken and didn't like it.  Her OCD around smells was on very high alert and she wasn't handling it very well.  So we opened all the windows in the house (thank the Lord for small miracles like a warm evening) and turned on the furnace blower to get rid of the smell.  It worked after about an hour, but it took Julie all night tonight to get relaxed to the point she could go to bed.  The good news is she went to bed early (8:45pm) and will most likely get a full night's sleep.

Still very sensitive to smells and reacts very negative to them.  We're on week five of the Stramonium Homeopathic Remedy.  When will this stuff start working??

Lord, heal my child!

Amen.