Today, I leave for the community where our son is in a residential facility.
It is 500 miles each way. 10 hours by bus. When you have an auto-immune illness the trip takes twice as long. Frequent breaks are needed. Lots of rest periods. If I drive, I take it in two days with a hotel stay each way.
In the end, it will be worth it. This is the eleventh month of him being in this particular facility. Every time we talk he mentions that he wants to come home. While I wish that I could be bringing him home this trip, in reality that isn’t going to happen. While he has made significant gains, it isn’t enough. When the time comes, we will need a step-down facility.
A step-down facility is a transition between the current environment, and home. An intermediate placement if you will. If he comes close to home, then we can do home visits, and try to work him back into the school.
Because of the distance, my health, the kids in school and the weather, we have to visit him when we can.
With regret, mom and the other kids won’t be with me this trip. I will be taking lots of photos of David. He will get some Christmas presents this weekend. The rest he will have to wait until closer to Christmas to open.
So with thoughts of safe travels, 
wish me luck. It is my belief that the trip will be without incident. I hope my visits with David go well.
Honestly? Going to see him, even though it is difficult to do, is so worth it. I wish that we could afford to see him more frequently. Mom and Aunt went to visit in October. So we do get out there. We have been there 4 times this year. While it is a far cry from the weekly visits we had in the prior facility, it is better than nothing.
His behavior dictates the length of his stay. Stability is the goal.