Day 141 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Grayson had a good day today, according to his residential assistant (RA). While there was no music therapy today, Grayson did have a good time doing other things. When I spoke with him this evening, it was about 8:30. He asked me how I was doing (how polite) and he explained that he was getting ready for bed. He didn't remember what he had for dinner, but he was in a good mood.

Dinner tonight consisted of teriyaki orange chicken that Grayson and his RA made. His RA said that Grayson was a big help this evening preparing the meal. He said that Grayson did a great job of cutting up the yellow bell pepper – with a butter knife! Due to the conditions of the residents, and the need for safety, knives, such as they are, are kept under lock and key. Having used them before, I am here to tell you that you would be hard pressed to cut butter with most of them. A cooking school it is not! Fortunately Grayson was patient enough to cut up the pepper while his RA used one of the "sharp" knives to cut the onion. When all was done and the meal was prepared, even the RA said that it was very good.

After dinner, the RA took Grayson on a walk around the grounds. His routine with Grayson is to ask the orientation questions while on a walk, so he is away from the distraction of roommates, television, etc. Grayson seems to respond well to this, and he was able to answer most of the questions tonight with little prompting. The orientation questions are very important – date, year, where he lives, the phone number of the facility, why he is there (brain injury), what city he is in, etc. All of these are stressed so that if he should become separated from the protection of the RA's, he will know how to communicate where he is from.
During the walk, Grayson and his RA passed the basketball hoop. Grayson wanted to shoot some hoops, but the ball couldn't be found. So they went back to the apartment to get Grayson's blue ball that he uses for hand/eye work. His roomies wanted to join him, so all went out and shot baskets. Three young men, all with brain injuries, shooting hoops – they had a blast!

I realize that I forgot to post the picture of Grayson, Lauren and Regina from Easter Sunday. In an effort to correct that oversight, here it is!

Pax!

Brant