Sweet Silence and Glorious Noisiness

Wednesday night I was allowed the supreme pleasure of cooking in silence! The girls were down and Jared was at church for a class, so I had a quiet kitchen all to myself, it was amazing! One of my favorite things about cooking are the sounds of all of the food in process. There is a distinct sound of cutting through mushrooms that I am particularly fond of as well as the sound of bacon crisping in the oven. To make this sublime experience even better, I was cooking for other people. We have a friend with a 2 month old baby and a very ill wife so Jared had offered to provide dinner for them. I had also volunteered to provide everything for gluten-free pizza's for the cooking class at Claire's school. I finally had a moment in life just like I had dreamed it would be, before I learned just how special Claire is. It took nearly two years, but I got it. The transition process into school was really hard for us. There was a lot of frustrating testing, people who didn't have a clue what to do with Claire, lawyers and quoting of federal law. It was nothing like I had imagined it would be when Claire was a baby. I am sure that this place where it all seems more normal is because I have had some time to adjust. Thursday morning came and I was no longer in my happy, quiet kitchen, rather running around dividing up the previous nights prep into their proper bag while dodging Chloe. I was granted permission (Claire is in a very closely protected autism preschool where there are already a lot of adults) to be there for the cooking class. When I arrived Claire was the first one at the table and she was sitting there beaming. Sandra, one of the most amazing aides ever!, led the group in each making their own gluten free pizza. Getting all of the kids to do this is quiet an accomplishment and in the process there was a lot of activity (it was a lot of noise). Of coarse with so much going on Claire was totally overwhelmed and to protect herself fell asleep before the pizzas came back from the oven. Poor little thing never got to eat hers, but she did get to smile so proud when everyone thanked Claire's mom for bringing pizzas and I got to feel like I have a typical life.