Day 189 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

After we departed Bakersfield last night, Grayson attended a Shakespeare comedy at Cal State Bakersfield – or at least he bought a ticket. After arriving at the theater, Grayson became agitated. Before the curtain was raised, he had become frustrated enough that he needed to go back to the residence. So off he and his residential assistant (RA) went back from where they had just come. When they arrived back, Grayson brushed his teeth and went straight to bed. The likely combination of a late show (starting at 8:00 PM) his being tired and our contributing to it with all of our running around at the park likely made this late evening just a non-starter.

Today things went much better (perhaps because we weren't there?) He slept in, and had an uneventful and peaceful morning. In the afternoon he attended services at the local Foursquare Church where several of his fellow residents attend. He appeared to enjoy himself, tapping his foot to the unfamiliar praise songs, and modeling good behavior.

When he returned from church, he said that he was hungry. His RA asked him what he should do about it, and Grayson made a beeline for the fridge. He pulled out a simple meal, a frozen pot roast dinner. When Grayson was asked how to prepare it, Grayson said that he didn't know. The RA then asked Grayson how would he find out what to do, and Grayson responded, "Read the box!" Grayson then read the instructions, set the preheat temperature on the oven, and told his RA that it needed 30 minutes to cook. The RA suggested to Grayson that they do their therapeutic home program (THP) while the oven was pre-heating and the meal cooked. That worked for Grayson, and what a great RA to find a way to make things work!

Overall, Grayson's energy level was much higher today than yesterday. In case you wondered, today we spent the entire day helping Austin move into a new apartment. While we were unable to spend our day with Grayson, it was great to spend rare time with our new engineer, Austin. By the time our day was done, our energy level was pretty low – sort of like Grayson yesterday!

Pax!

Brant