On November 4th 2004 our lives were forever changed. It was our D-Day…Diagnosis Day.

Rashele and I were clueless as to what the world of autism would bring us. Some lessons were learned quickly, others we’re still learning. One thing that was apparent, our marriage would suffer. Like most couples, any time we had to ourselves fell to the wayside.

The stress of the constant shuttle of doctor and therapy appointments, denials by the insurance company, a quickly dwindling savings account took its toll. Pressure mounted and we many times took the troubles out on each other.

At some point, most likely after a big fight, we had a very frank discussion about the state of our marriage and what we needed to do as a couple to again find time for one another and focus on our needs so that the foundation of our family would remain as strong as it appeared on the outside.

About a year ago I received a surprise call from my brother in law, the much loved Jimmy, Mason’s favorite uncle. He and his wife (my wife’s sister) offered to drive down to the Dallas area (6 hours from Amarillo) and watch our kids for the weekend while Rashele and I escaped for some alone time.

To this day I don’t know what prompted his call as I think I was too shocked to ask and I readily accepted his offer and let him know how much it was appreciated.

Months ago, I noted that one of our favorite comedians, Jim Gaffigan, would be in Austin to tape an upcoming show for Comedy Central. I mentioned it casually with no true intent to Rashele. I was bummed seeing that he’d not be making it to Dallas.

She said, “Let’s go to Austin”.

I eyed her suspiciously not sure if she understood that this wasn’t a show we’d want to bring Mason to.

Surprised and admittedly somewhat confused I said…”you mean……just the two of us???”

(I quickly started shopping for the best seats online before she had a chance to change her mind)

She agreed,… it was finally time for our first trip prior to Mason’s birth. Since my 40th birthday would soon be approaching faster than I’d like it to, and we’d be celebrating our 10th anniversary a couple months later, we were hoping to take a weekend to ourselves so this would be a perfect opportunity for a 1 night practice run.

Needless to say, Mason got a LOT of verbal prep last week. Promises of chocolate, Red Lobster biscuits (his favorite), and Super Mario Galaxy served as the necessary bribes. He seemed happy that Jimmy was coming to town and we stressed repeatedly that his Aunt & Uncle would be spending the night while Mommy & Daddy went away for a little bit.

It seemed to register, but I couldn’t be too sure.

We escaped out Saturday morning with little fanfare of fuss from Mason. He seemed content with the substitute parents and his siblings were here for backup. Rashele and I had a great time driving 3 hours to Austin and discussing everything from the bizarre to the philosophical.

The show was great and a surprise romantic dinner at Roaring Forks as a gift from her brother and girlfriend, who live in Austin, made it perfect evening. We met up with them after the dinner, and made our way back to their house, chatted for awhile before we popped his and hers Tylenol PMs and enjoyed a restful night of absolutely uninterrupted sleep.

Up at the crack o’ dawn the next morning, we had to get an early start, headed back to Dallas and again enjoyed each others company, conversation, and some gas station kolaches courtesy of the Czech stop in West, Texas.

Perfect weekend.