Joe sent me an email on night 4 of our vacation with the subject line being “Best Vacation Ever”. At first I thought he was joking and being sarcastic. Wasn’t this vacation hell? Was he on a different one?

He was being honest.

Why did he feel it was the best?

Because we didn’t let autism ruin it. We adapted and we kept persevering. We still had a family vacation. We still did everything we planned to do. Did it look the same as last year? No. Were there smiles? Yes.

I have to say, Joe was definitely the strong one during this trip. I probably would have headed back home by the 2nd day.

I was honest to Joe in my reply back. I was not ready to say best vacation ever. I’m still emotionally recovering from the tough moments. The bruises and scratches are still healing.

But I do agree that we did not let autism ruin our fun and because of that memories were still made. Smiles were still seen. So it was definitely not a bad vacation.

This trip taught us how to divide and conquer. This trip taught us how to adapt on the go. It taught us to be flexible. It taught us that a “great” vacation can still have its challenges while still being fun.

This is not our last vacation. We will persevere. See you next time Mackinac Island!