Wow had a GREAT time!

[Pamster]

I just had to post and let you all know we made it okay. It was trying at times as any trip can be but Jackie was awesome. :) I'll post more later when I get back from the store. :D It was awesome! :D

[Kristen (ColeysMom)]

WOOHOO!

:D I can't wait to hear!!!!! :D

[Pamster]

So much to tell, I am thinking of making a new update page on it and posting some pics on that. :D So tired...Glad to be home! :D

[Kristen (ColeysMom)]

uhmmmmmm...

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_6_109v.gif

[Pamster]

Jackie was awesome, just awesome. We drove all the way down to Florida from Virginia Tuesday. We have one of those GPS things and did just fine. I came close to falling asleep when I was driving at 9 ish at night but Jack took back over and it was fine. Overall it was a fantastic experience, and I will have a couple of pics to share once I finish off the roll.

We didn't do much sight seeing, we did however go to the national zoo and it was pretty fun. The funeral was on a cold wet day, my fingers froze to the camcorder practically it was so cold...Jack said he couldn't feel his face and I was definitely not feeling my hands. Jackie was good for the ceremony, it was kinda weird how they sorta pointed the guns in our direction and he went "Uh oh...." It was pretty cool. He only voiced what everyone there was thinking.

And the afterparty went great too. We met family we'd never met before and it was wonderful. I am glad I went, and I did a great job packing things, Mr. T was happy to see us return and we only had ONE minor fender bender there in Virginia and we didn't even really dent the car from it and the dual airbags weren't triggered. Thank God it worked out all right. No one was hurt, but Jackie went "Ow" like Ow for the car...I was so afraid it broke the back end but it just barely clipped us.

Anyway, as with all trips I am VERY glad to be home. We had everything we needed while up there and I feel good about it all. :D

[GinaMarie]

Im so glad you had a good time. Wow thats a long drive. I have a hard time just driving 2 hrs. Thats great that Jackie did so well. Thats cute about his sayings on the trip. :) Now I hope you get to get some rest from the trip. I bet the pics are great.

Gina Marie

[Aspigander]

The funeral was on a cold wet day, my fingers froze to the camcorder practically it was so cold...Jack said he couldn't feel his face and I was definitely not feeling my hands. Jackie was good for the ceremony, it was kinda weird how they sorta pointed the guns in our direction and he went "Uh oh...." It was pretty cool. He only voiced what everyone there was thinking.

Please forgive me for asking if this is inappropriate. But...guns? I know sometimes NT's might find it rude when these types of questions are asked especially when family deaths are concerned, so I hope I'm not stepping out of line, but is this a traditional funeral practice or specific to this instance? Admittedly, I don't do funerals. I have gone to a service where the person had been cremated prior, so I knew I wouldn't be sitting there staring at a dead body, but sometimes people get emotional at funerals (whether there was prior cremation or an intact body present) and I'm less than comfortable around that so I generally just stay away, so the idea of guns being pulled on the audience is new to me so I hope my asking isn't offensive.

And...um, something else I hope doesn't weird you out. I've recently found this forum and have read many of your posts, and am wondering if I'd seen you on another forum a while back. I hope you don't mind, but I think I might send you a PM to see if you might be the Pamster I'm remembering.

[Tootsie]

Aspigander, I'm not sure if the funeral that Pamster was describing was a military funeral, but when someone is buried who has served in the military, there is sometimes a firing of guns, with only blanks, no live ammunition, to honor their service in the military. Cheerio.

[Pamster]

Hi Aspigander,

First off, thank you so much for the PM! It is so great you found Brain Talk's Autism support forum. :D Tootsie is correct, it was a military funeral and that was why there was a 21 gun salut for Jack's grandfather's urn's internment. (Internment is a fancy word for burying I think) It was really a grand sendoff too. A band was there and they played Taps. I was so freezing though as I videotaped the service.

It's been a wonderful adventure, but I am so happy to be home. Jackie was so great during the trip it was amazing how much fun he managed to have at the heated pool and just there in the room with us. I am so glad we went. We had a fender bender there because a lady was speeding and didn't stop in time but it didn't even break any back end light lenses. So we lucked out. I didn't do any driving in DC thank God, it was crazy traffic up there! :eek:

[Pamster]

I'll be posting pics when we get the camera finished, so far we've got 12 pics left and I need to take some of the yard and the house for the Canine Companions organization to see about finishing our application to get a service dog for Jackie. :D I have two pics of Jackie when he was sleeping that are sure to be awesomely cute. ANd a few others, but nothing like what I had imagined we'd be taking, I thought for sure we'd use up like two disposable cameras but we barely took any. At least we got some good video. ;)