Day 126 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

We spent the day with Grayson today. We went to church in the morning, then spent the afternoon having lunch, shopping for clothes and exploring. Grayson was very cooperative today. While he was not extremely verbal, he did communicate when asked questions.

While out this afternoon, Grayson made several choices. He chose where and what to eat and drink. He needed some clothes, and he made choices there also. When we came up here in January, the weather was cold. Now we are approaching the 100 degree summer temperatures and the wool pea coat we brought is far less important than necessity of acquiring new shorts! Besides, any shorts that already Grayson had were purchased when he was 50 pounds heavier. We successfully purchased new shorts, and Grayson chose the style and the color.

When we returned to the residence, Grayson worked his therapeutic home program (THP) with his residential assistant (RA). Today during the orientation questions, he was able to successfully tell us the year, the date and the president, among other things. There were several if/then questions that he also did well on – What would happen if you leave your food in the oven too long? What would happen if you leave your bicycle in the driveway? My favorite was the answer to, "What would happen if your car ran out of gas?" Grayson answered, "Call the Auto Club!"

As many of you know, Grayson was working at his high school, Flintridge Preparatory School, at the time of his incident. Prep was the place where Grayson had so much success, and performed and starred in several productions during his middle school and high school years. This weekend was the annual school musical – the biggest theatrical event of the year at Prep. We were handed a program from the production this weekend, and there at the bottom of the production credits, was the line, "And a standing ovation to Grayson Reed, Class of 2004." We were touched beyond words, and I had to choke back tears again as I reread it. Thank you Prep family for all of your love and support.

Pax!

Brant