One Normal night

They say to be normal is overrated. Personally, I think Normal has a mean streak. Not people, per se, but Normal in general. I have been feeling the need for our little family, and all it's autismness, just to have a Normal night. I just want to have dinner as a Normal family, not worrying about everything that could go wrong. I want for both Puck and I to put the kids to bed together. Doesn't sound like much to most people, but for us, it is a big deal. Our lives don't work that way. So, tonight we decided to throw caution to the wind and try for Normal. Yeah.

As soon as we announced that we were going to go have a Normal night, (and I do mean the minute) the power in our house starts to flicker, then shuts off all together. Due to the fact that we were leaving, I went downstairs to see if the lady there had lost power too. I didn't want to leave the house if there was a possible fuse shortage. She didn't have power either. Now, at this time the house is 74 degrees and rising. Somewhere in the silence of no fans or electronics, I swear there is the sound of evil laughter. Being the type of family we are, we decided to forgo the heat of our home and go ahead with our plans, completely ignoring Normal's warning. We were going to have a good time!

We get in the car and head for the gas station. Oh! They don't have power. Well, thankfully, we don't need gas and their registers are battery powered. Alright, so that works. Heading on down the road to Normal. There is NO power anywhere. People are standing outside staring at nothing. Cars were streaming out of the theater and the bank. Living where we live, we just thought it was a rolling power outage. Still contentedly heading for a Normal night. Power outage, be damned! All of this, so far has taken maybe half hour from the start of our announcement, and the spiteful reply we got about it.

We get on the highway and we are cruising. Yeah, the music is going and the kids are just bopping along. Look what a Normal family we are. Suddenly, everyone is catapulted forward as Puck hits the breaks. Well, that is strange. There is never traffic going west at this time of night. People are usually headed home. It must be an accident. A half a mile and thirty minutes later, I take out the phone and google for accidents. The music has been swapped for the news and the kids are starting to bop around in anxiety. Dammit! We are getting Normal. HA!

There is a fire that has knocked out half the counties power and shut down the east bound side. Here we are, yet to see any evidence of a fire, sitting in traffic. We know that we can't go any of the back roads because all the power is out and, let's be honest, everyone else already had that idea. At this point, we had been in traffic long enough to figure it had to end soon. Oh, how wrong we were. We left the house at approximately 5 pm. We got 9 miles down the highway in one hour and 15 minutes, but dammit, we got down it. Not five minutes after we passed the fire, it was announced that the ENTIRE freeway was shutting down. Well, that was a nice try, Normal, but we beat you that time. Of course it is now after six and we have yet to get to the bookstore or eat.

The bookstore was nice and cool, though we discovered that reading interests have shifted and not in a way that we liked. We got a few books. The kids, as is usual when taken into a bookstore, were all about what could they have. After an hour of searching for palatable books, insuring the books the children were purchasing were at standard for their levels, and finding a blu ray copy of Doctor Who, we managed to escape. It was a typical visit for us, but not Normal. I guess Normal only goes so far, and the bookstore was pushing it. We understood and headed for a nice Normal dinner....at 8pm.

It was dicey. Let me tell you. The staff was getting tired and slightly sloppy. The food was slow. The kids were falling out where they sat. Finally, I asked the waitress politely, to at least rush their food as they were getting all kinds of stimmy. She did her best and our food came out not so shortly after. It is nine at night. The kids are just getting their dinners. We have no idea if we can even get home.

We did get home with minimal fuss.....at roughly 1030. It took us about 2 hours to get there and half hour to get home. There were no Normal goodnights. We didn't get to tuck the children in like Normal parents do. No. Nothing about tonight was remotely Normal. You know what, screw you, Normal. I have no idea what the hell we did to the Normal gods to make them so damn vindictive and evil that we couldn't even get to share in the Normal for ONE NIGHT, but it better have been good. Maybe it was me shoving that lady's groceries on the floor, or one of my kids making an off color joke. I don't know. What I do know, is that Normal has something very serious against us. I mean, you try to pretend for a single night that your lives are just like everyone elses, but NOOOOOO! Turns out, Normal will have nothing to do with us! Oh well. Normal is overrated.