Gray Skies are Gonna Clear Up

Is it always blue skies and sunshine following a tornado? Like the sky just had to get all the bad stuff out and now it can move on? Our house was (thankfully) out of the storm path today, but North Minneapolis got hit pretty hard. And  now it's gorgeous outside -- complete with a Muppets-worthy rainbow.

Weather aside, it's been a good week in the parenting department. I made another mom-of-twin-geniuses friend (those are hard to come by) and I unburdened myself of a good load of parental guilt by attending the boys' rollerskating field trip on Friday.

I wasn't exactly looking forward to the field trip as 1) I don't generally enjoy large groups of children and 2) I don't generally enjoy making small talk with other parents - or worse, having no one to talk to because all the other parents know each other, because they all volunteer at the school on a weekly basis.

However, I'm happy to report that it was a lovely experience. First of all, I got to have visceral flashbacks to my elementary school years, as the roller rink has managed to defy the laws of time and remain exactly as I remember it from 1986.

Then, I got to be reminded that Aidan can be very independent, as he took off on his own and lapped me several times around the rink.

And finally, I got the pleasure of spending the whole 2 hours with my little Owen. Now granted, I wasn't thrilled about the fact that he wouldn't let go of my hand (my back was still sore from dragging him around the lake by our house, on his rollerblades), but had I not been physically attached to him, I might have missed the cutest moment of the day:

While we were skating, we heard a shout of "Owen!" behind us and I turned to see his friend Claire (who also has Asperger's) skate up and take Owen's other hand in hers. I tried desperately to get my Blackberry to snap a photo, but it was too dark and I was moving too fast, so it refused. (Damn you, RIM!) It was just so precious. And it got him to let go of my hand for 20 seconds before he determined that she skated way too fast for him (ahem) and went back to clinging to me.

But just seeing the way she wanted to skate with him...and also seeing all the other kids who made of point of saying hi or telling him he was doing great as they whizzed by...it was exactly the warming my heart needed. So I stopped trying to get him to let go of my hand and reminded myself that I was lucky to be there with him and that in the not-so-distant future he won't want anything to do with holding my hand.

And so we skated. To Rihanna. To Guns 'N' Roses. To Taio Cruz. To the Black Eyed Peas.

And we were happy.