Sailability

Today was a good day at work, but I have to admit that I am really tired tonight! Who would have thought that sitting in the movies (trying to control 4 autistic kids - all from the same family!) and sailing could wear you out so much. I guess being pregnant doesn't help. We had 5 workers at the movies and all of us were needed just to deal with the one family. There were probably 7 families that came along, but one family had 6 kids - 4 of which are autistic! Two of them are severe and the other two moderate. One of them the whole movie kept flapping and saying over and over 'it's a light, the bee has escaped!'.

After the movies we had 4 families go sailing through an organisation called 'Sailability'. It is a not for profit organisation that assists anyone with a disability to have a go at sailing. We had two small yachts, and on each one were two men to assist us.

In my yacht was a new family who has a 6 year old girl with rett syndrome, and also a teenage boy who is mentally disabled. There was another worker in the boat, so it was quite relaxing (other than when I was stressing every time the boat would lean majorly to one side - it was actually quite nerve wracking at times!). The little girl had two older brothers who were so lovely with her. They are in grade 6 and grade 8 and would hold her hand and talk to her the whole time asking her if she was having fun.

It was a beautiful day and so nice being out on the water. The kids got to help with letting the ropes out and winding them back up to move the sails, so they thought that was great. We went from the Seaport, up to Mowbray, then to the Tailrace, up to the bridge near the Penny Royal and then back to the Seaport. We were saying how it would be fun to sail to the Tailrace another time and get out for a BBQ and play and then sail back to the Seaport.

Tomorrow I have one shift at work - we are going sailing in the afternoon. It is supposed to be 30 degrees, so hopefully there will be a nice breeze out on the water to cool us down. I won't be as nervous this time when the boat starts leaning to one side :)