Latest posts
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Synnøve
Earlier this week, Maki’s mother, Synnove, returned to New Zealand after a week resettling him into his American life with us. As I mentioned in a June post, one of the major positives that has come out of Vernon’s accident is the fact that Maki’s two families have come together in an unexpected and special way.…
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To Be Alone With You
Since Vernon still seems to have the blues today, I’ll just share a moment from one of our outings outside. This was yesterday in the little bit of welcome rain that came down in Brea. What’s more romantic than a date in the rain, right? I started thinking of all the times we’d complained of not having…
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Through the Looking Glass
“The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly kind companion.”—William Makepeace Thackeray This morning, I had the privilege of watching the physical therapy…
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His Own Path
“Life is a journey, not a destination.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson One thing we are finding when we visit Vernon is that he is on his own timeline. (If I’m honest, I suppose he always has been.) Sometimes he is alert and ready to engage and other times, he can keep his eyes shut for most of…
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Back To School
I’ve been a bit amiss on blogging daily this week, so a HUGE thank you to Chris, who updated this morning…that was great. I love all the connecting elements so much. Chris has been an amazing friend to Vernon and our family at every step of the way. This was Back-To-School week…just as it was for…
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A Kiss
It was as if Vernon knew Maki was coming today and had prepared for it. Though the hospital front desk wasn’t thrilled about three of us going in at once to visit him, I managed to convince her this was a special occasion. And that ended up being the case. When we got to the room, Vernon…
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Welcome Back, Maki
Maki and Synnove arrived today. While I was waiting for them at International Arrivals, I thought about how many times over the years I’d been at an airport with his dad, either dropping Maki off or picking him up. I thought about how he’d visited America for the first time 8 years ago…his dad pulling…
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Take Offs and Landings
“Move to a new country and you quickly see that visiting a place as a tourist, and actually moving there for good, are two very different things.” ― Tahir Shah, Travels With Myself I know that statement was very true for me when I moved to England 8 years ago, and it was probably the same for…
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Sound and Vision
I’m so happy about this update, I’m adding music. Tonight’s soundtrack brought to you by the Thin White Duke, himself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3KUywe-Ims SOUND: What a lovely surprise today to find that Vernon was able to vocalize a bit. He has been working with his speech therapist, Pilar, this week. (Remember she asked me to write a…
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Sitting UP
Now we are getting somewhere. I finally was able to see the physical and occupational therapists at work with Vernon today. They worked for about 20 minutes, as they have been doing every day this week. So far, Jaime and Veronica are working as a team, helping each other with his weight, as he can’t hold…