2016 was a year of change. After our amazing trek to Asia/China, things quieted down for a bit. Not for long. It was August 2016 and I was preparing to join Rose at her timeshare, for a week in the Poconos. If you’re not familiar, the Poconos are an old, established mountain resort area in Pennsylvania.
This had become an annual event where I would pick up my then six year old grandson in upstate New York, for a week of fun which included shopping for school clothes. This year, however, would be decidedly different. My grandson’s dad is my son who I lost in 2011 to the ever present opioid epidemic. His mom had been struggling since and was having a difficult time. I was planning to leave on Saturday but Thursday morning, I received a phone call from my grandson’s aunt asking if I could take him. Since that was the plan, I didn’t understand the question until she explained. He had been placed with this aunt on a temporary basis and she wanted me to take permanent custody of him. Talk about life turning on a dime! The week in the Poconos turned into me commuting back and forth to Schoharie, New York, four out of seven days but the end result was, I was granted joint custody with his mom. He was to live with me full time on Long Island. I was granted full decision making authority. Overnight, I became a single parent. The rest of 2016 feels like a blur.
We had his first ever birthday party where for the first time, he got to meet the whole other side of his family in addition to a new school, new friends and a completely different life.
He’s now 13 and a typical teenager. Since he is innately curious, I was able to instill in him a desire to travel. This created a perfect opportunity to provide him with gifts of travel rather than the latest video game. So far, we’ve been to Broadway shows, Arizona and the Grand Canyon, North Carolina and Chicago. Niagara Falls is next and then Italy. 2016 ended with us spending the holidays in Savannah where my daughter and son in law had relocated. Time to take a breath and figure out next year. Now the challenge becomes how do I continue to travel while raising a 7 year old? Keep reading…