Day 225 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Well, after a weekend to remember, it was back to the routine today – Monday morning! Grayson was on the bus to the clinic at 9:00 AM as usual, after getting up, showering, getting dressed, making and eating breakfast. When he returned to the residence, it was clear that he was in Bakersfield – it was almost 100 degrees! He joined his residential assistant (RA) and hung out in his air conditioned apartment for his regular 30 minutes. When his RA asked Grayson if he wanted to go in the pool, Grayson said no. The RA suspected that it was so hot outside that he didn't want to go out! They did some therapeutic home program (THP) questions instead.

After a bit, they defrosted chicken for dinner. While the chicken was defrosting, Grayson did a load of laundry, and folded and put away his clothes from the dryer. Grayson's drawers have been remarkably neat and organized the past two weeks. It was just a few weeks ago that Regina brought her label maker up and made labels for Grayson's drawers for t-shirts, pants, shorts, underwear, belts, socks etc. Since that time, Grayson had been able to put all of his things in the proper place, as opposed to the random access method he had before. For those familiar with "5S" methodology, this is a key part of defining how things are stored and order is maintained. It is a tool to help Grayson put things away in such a way that he is able to find them in the future. I found it amusing when we were making the labels that I found myself stuck on the spelling of the word "handkerchief". When I asked Grayson, he spelled it out in an instant. No long term memory problem there!

Back to the present, after the clean laundry was put away, and the dirty laundry in the wash, dinner prep was the next order of business. Grayson seasoned the now-defrosted chicken and popped it in the oven, under the watchful eye and with the advice of his RA. They made rice and broccoli to accompany it, and Grayson had his evening feast. He ate with gusto and cleaned his plate, earning a piece of leftover birthday cake for dessert.

After dinner Grayson and his RA took out the trash and checked the mail before having a short walk. They sat in the shaded area by the pool where we held his birthday party yesterday, and hung out and talked for over an hour. Grayson remembered his party, the cake and the fact that many people that he cared about were there. He was more than a little shaky on precisely who was there, but he remembered the feeling of being loved and cared about. Given his current memory state, I think that is pretty good. And we are grateful to all of you who made the pilgrimage to blistering Bakersfield to give the gift of yourselves. Grayson remembers feeling good about the day that you all made for him. God bless you all!

Pax!

Brant