Who knew?

You should know that I have made a huge discovery. I actually can't believe that it hasn't been uncovered sooner. Shocked that no one has ever written about it.

Are you ready?

When people say, "Oh of course, that is just Murphy's law." You know that saying right? You wash your car and it rains? You don't wear make-up to the grocery store and see fifteen people you haven't seen in months? You leave your snow gear in your home state of Minnesota and travel to the usually-warm Louisiana for a ballgame and it snows? (Ok, you might need to be a Mississippi State bulldog fan to understand that one!)

Well, clearly, I mean CLEARLY, Murphy is a special needs mama. And I had no idea.

I made a last-minute house-hunting trip to Delaware this week.  Benjamin has been doing so well in the dorm, and I had coverage for Cate (Thanks to sister Claire and dear friend Suzy!), so we bought a flight and I flew up to attempt to suppress the panic we are feeling that our housing options aren't going as we hoped. I was gone 54 hours. Just.

The day before I left, my phone blew up with hurricane warnings. I was notified by the National Weather Service, each of my children's schools, and our electricity provider. One by one they wanted to ensure I took precautionary measures for food and shelter.

Oh yes, sure I did, I just bought a plane ticket and now won't be able to sleep at all for worrying I won't be able to get home to my children in a hurricane. I wasn't going to be defeated by Gordon (the hurricane) or Murphy (the law) though -- I tracked that blasted hurricane all night before getting on a flight hours before it made landfall, hoping and praying that it had in fact weakened.

I had barely landed when a personal care attendant reported car trouble. I took a deep breath and began to brainstorm solutions -- thankfully his car cranked as I brainstormed. Crisis averted.

But I will tell you, my first thought before I could even THINK of a solution was "Of course there is car trouble, I have left town. Murphy's law." Sigh.

But whew, that had an easy solution and as I gave thanks for this amazing team of personal care attendants, and continued giving thanks for a less-severe-Gordon than they planned for, I felt this strange sense of awe that things are really running pretty smoothly in my absence.  I wasn't proud but maybe just maybe a smidge sure of myself in regard to the way we have navigated Benjamin's move to the dorm.. But JUST a smidge.

And let me assure you that it's a good thing it wasn't more than that. A really good thing.

Because by the next day -- day two of my days away, hour 28 maybe -- Benjamin called and the first words out of his mouth were:

"Mom, I am in my dorm room and I am ok."

And I braced myself.

"But Mom, a tree has fallen on campus and taken all of the electricity with it."

Of course it did. Of course. I left town. A hurricane hits. A tree is downed. Power is out. Blast it, Murphy. Blast it.

We scrambled a bit. We discussed options. We waited an hour to see if power might be quickly restored. But in the end, his PCA drove him to our home where his sisters were staying the night. Those three had some sushi and family time and all was well.

But the best part of the story occurred today when I returned from house-hunting and went straight to Benjamin's campus (he had an appointment that I needed to be at too.). He began to recount the story of being in the dorm and the power going out. He told me about wanting to send his attendant to check out the rest of campus but then realized the locks on the doors for both the building and the apartments inside are ID badge swipe-activated. He said he knew they required electricity. He walked me through his solution.

"Mom, I know I am just not great at handling these crises."

What, are you kidding me? I asked him if he had been listening to himself talk -- did he hear that he had thought through the potential problems of being in an apartment alone when the other roommates and his attendant might be locked out due to the power-outage? Did he hear the solution he came up with? Did he realize how calm he was when he called me?

And let's be real, having the presence of mind to start with "I'm ok" was pure genius when talking to your mother!

OH my Benjamin, I think you are really pretty great at handling crises. And though I know I have little power to change Murphy's Law, tonight I am confident that you will be able to handle whatever ole' Murphy throws your way!

And son, I will always be in your corner.