An ADD-Free Weekend
A mom gets a rare, restorative break from the daily grind of attention deficit.

Sometimes everything seems to be about ADHD. Especially after you’ve had a week like we just had, when Dylan seemed to have an F-5 tornado inside of him. It’s easy to be consumed by it all, and to constantly worry about the future.
It helps to stop and smell the roses. This past weekend, we did that.
For us, the roses were skateboards and science experiments, movies and music. Except for having to yell at Dylan in the store because he pulled the cart hither and yon, this was a “normal,” ADHD-free weekend, the weekend I imagined having when I had a child. But things are different from what I thought they’d be. Different, but not worse.
Dylan is uniquely himself. He was thrilled to purchase the boxed set of Star Trek movies. He also loves to do experiments, so we made snow in a test tube. We went to the annual French Quarter Festival, and listened to music. Dylan played happily with his favorite toy — a Transformer.
Tomorrow, I’ll be back on the beat again, calling the doctor about tweaking Dylan’s meds. I’ll worry about the first day of state standardized testing. I’ll wish there were easier answers.
But I’ll carry this weekend along with me for a while: a weekend of small, wonderful moments that had nothing to do with ADHD.