My Son's Summer Travel and Dealing with My Own Anxiety: Reflections of a Mother of an Adult Autistic Son

From time to time, we like to invite guests to share their stories with us. Today’s guest blogger is an anonymous mom.–Ed.

My son loves to travel and was looking forward to a long-needed vacation from work. He decided to take a few weeks and join a young professional guided tour to Europe. Sounded great for your average young person, but I was worried for my son. Would he be okay without the usual and reliable family, friends, and co-worker supports, “just in case”?

When he was much younger travel and change were very difficult for him so of course I am relying on those old memories.

Before he left, he was also anxious about the unknown certainly, but he was determined to go. I was a lot less confident and tried to hide my concern. What if he can’t handle the transitions or the people on the tour? Will he be included and accepted?

So, he left for Europe and when he arrived, we got the dreaded phone call! Due to his flight being delayed, he missed his initial tour group meeting and was locked out of his hotel room. Ugh! My heart sank. He was thousands of miles away and there was nothing I could do.

He abruptly got off the phone with us to deal with his situation, and we didn’t hear from him again till a few days later. By then he was fine, no big deal, enjoying the tour, meeting fellow travelers from all over the world.

It was a monumental experience for him and for me as the ever anxious parent. I guess I learned my lesson….for now!

—A Mom