Day 174 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Today Regina and I took a special visitor up to see Grayson – Regina's father, Howard – a.k.a. Papa Tutu. Grayson was very happy to see his last remaining grandparent, especially since he lives on the Big Island of Hawaii. The last time Grayson and Howard saw each other was during our visit there last August.

The first order of business today was lunch. We went to Chipotle and had a wonderful time, basking in the warm spring sun outdoors as we enjoyed our food. After our leisurely lunch, we went to The Park at River Walk where we continued our outdoor day.

At the park, we found a covered area with park benches that we used as our base of operations. From here we spent time doing several things. First we worked on knots, always good for memory and finger dexterity. Papa Tutu, a WW II Navy veteran, shared some of his expertise to enhance the fun. Then we spent some time throwing and catching a ball, always good work for hand/eye coordination. Next we spent some time reviewing vocabulary from SAT Prep Flash Cards, something that Grayson did very well with.

After the vocabulary work, I decided to try something. I asked Grayson if he could run and race me to a nearby tree. He said yes, and we took off. It was the first time I have seen Grayson run since his incident. I was quite pleased, and it shows that he is still improving. We finished our day at the park with a walk, before heading off to Cold Stone for a treat.

Unfortunately, Grayson was very "low energy" today. He was disengaged for much of the day, and we had a devil of a time keeping him interested in doing much more than resting. Such is the case with brain injury.

After we returned to the residence, we watched Grayson, under the direction of his residential assistant (RA), prepare his dinner. He was heading off to a play at Bakersfield High School this evening as we piled back into the car for the drive back home. When I spoke with Grayson and his RA later, the play was quite funny, and he enjoyed himself immensely. The lesson her for all of us is that live theatre, especially at the high school level, is worth watching. There is a lot of good stuff going on out there, as all of us that watched Grayson on the stage can attest.

Pax!

Brant