Latest posts
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Notes
I’ve learned one way to get a smile from Vernon. Cuddles for the win! This note was left for me from the speech therapist: It says: “I’m Pilar, the speech therapist working with your husband. I would like for you to leave a list of your husband’s interests, names of children, and other family members, pets,…
-
‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers
“Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all – And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard – And sore must be the storm – That could abash the little Bird That kept so many…
-
Manic Monday
I went to the Kindred hospital in Brea (Vern’s new home) hoping to spend a little quality time with him or at least get to see if his physical therapy had begun, but I showed up right when his 3-hour dialysis session had started. So much for watching new progress. There was certainly a lot…
-
The Renewal
Today was the first day in the past 91 days that I did not visit Vernon. (Sorry, Vern, if you are reading this later…I still love you, I promise!) It felt kind of strange taking a full day off, but with the new distance and school starting in a week, it also seems like its time to…
-
Cambria
My dad used to say that my younger sister, Cambria, and I had so much in common: she is an accountant, and I am an artist. They both start with “A.” After that the similarities stop. We may have been pretty different growing up, but one great benefit of having an amazing sister like mine is that the relationship…
-
Hope is a waking dream. — Aristotle
Hi Friends, Jen here. Just taking a moment to tell you (on Allison’s behalf) that today was a good day. I journeyed with Allison from San Clemente on up to Vernon’s new space at Kindred Hospital in Brea. Yeah, it is about 30 minutes additional driving (beyond Mission Hospital), but the benefits of this new…