Finding the Excellent

Robert has been really happy lately.  I mean super happy.  He isn’t one to express a great deal of emotion (probably a side effect of his medication or seizures) so his response to everything is usually “that’s nice.”

He’s been a bit more animated the past month or so and describes everything as “excellent” which is then followed by a giggle.

It makes me wonder what he’s up to.

What is making Robert so darn happy?  (Yes, I over-analyze everything and so am on a mission to figure out the source of this extreme happiness making everything “excellent”).

There are several possibilities:

1.     He's been staying at our house each weekend since Thanksgiving (and every other weekend for months before that).  We have dogs he pets and coos at; he is able to watch marathons of Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune or Murder, She Wrote; he gets his favorite foods (any kind of meat and Rocky Road ice cream).  What’s not to love? (well, maybe the crappy mattress on the sofa sleeper, but other than that . . .)

2.     Robert has settled into a routine.  I stopped visiting him at New Home through the week so he is able to go about his usual routine without me interrupting his shower or dinner or bedtime ritual.  There’s a lot to be said for routine (speaking of which, my dogs are letting me know it’s almost treat time!).

3.     He absolutely LOVES his Day Program.  Robert has made many friends, eats lunch with his buddies, watches movies and goes on field trips. Plus they have a party every other week for something or other (always with cookies or other delicious goodies).  Sounds like a day full of excellent!

4.     He finally has cable at New Home.  This may seem inconsequential to anyone else but to Robert, it’s huge (actually, I’d miss my cable too).  Having the ability to watch his favorite shows in the evening while snuggled in bed is part of Robert’s routine.  When New Home disconnected the cable, he was lost. I raised a ruckus and, after taking way too long for them to get the necessary approvals for it, his cable is back.  Do not underestimate the power of Jeopardy to tip the scales to “excellent!”

5.     Rocky Road Ice Cream and lots of it!  Seriously.  Isn’t everything excellent with chocolate or ice cream (or, better yet, a combination of the two?).

6.     He physically feels good.  He hasn’t been in the hospital for several months (knock on wood), he hasn’t had the flu (again, please knock on that wood!) and he hasn’t had back pain in quite a while (which is a miracle considering that sofa sleeper mattress is only 3” thick).  It’s pretty amazing how the world seems a bit brighter and more excellent when you physically feel well.

There could be many other reasons Robert's life is excellent because Robert has turned out to be a pretty positive and happy guy.  Whatever the reason for his giggles and the “excellent” review of everything, I’m just happy he’s happy. 

And, that’s pretty excellent.

What makes you have an excellent day?  Better yet, what makes you giggle?

25 Random Facts About Robert’s Sister (yeah, that’s me)

The other day I posted 25 Random Facts about Robert and promised a few random facts about me too. Random facts in random order. I wonder how many of these are a surprise to my friends and family?

1. When I was 13 I had a pencil thrown at me by a little girl I was babysitting and the lead end was briefly stuck in my eye. (What is it about my family and getting poked in the eye? Obviously, Mom should have made us all wear protective eyewear).

2. I have two younger brothers. Robert is 5 years younger than me, is disabled and has epilepsy. Other Brother is not quite 2 years younger than me and is a very successful partner in an actuarial firm. Robert beats us both at cards.

3. I had heart surgery when I was 18 months old to repair a hole in my heart that I had been born with. My daughter had a similar problem when she was born and had her heart surgery when she was only 2 months old.

4. I still have a few baby teeth and I never got any wisdom teeth. (No comments from the peanut gallery, please). :-)

5. I volunteered at the Suicide Prevention Center when I was 18 years old even though their minimum age to volunteer was 21. I was able to talk my way into the job (if you read my book, you'll know why).

6. During college, I worked for Greenpeace soliciting donations door to door and was yelled at numerous times. My favorite thing yelled at me was “nuke the whales!” People can be crazy!

7. I failed beginning French in college and now worry how I’ll manage to get around when I go to France one of these days.

8. I had two majors in college: Psychology & Peace/War Studies. I thought working at the UN would have been a pretty cool job.

9. In my twenties, I acted in local theater productions and was an extra in a few movies and television shows. It was a blast!

10. Until the 6th grade, I was called Patti. I decided I didn’t like that name any longer so asked everyone to start calling me Tricia. Now it’s just Trish.

11. I really like cows. It may have something to do with the fact I grew up in Nebraska.

12. One of the houses I grew up in was across the street from the famous Boys’ Town farm in Omaha. We could smell the “fertilizer” when the wind shifted.

13. I love making snow angels.

14. I love animals and currently have 2 dogs, 2 cats and an aquatic turtle.

15. I was the oldest and only girl cousin on my dad’s side of the family until I was 12. This meant I wasn’t afraid of boys and could hold my own in a game of touch football.

16. The smoke alarm usually goes off when I cook something. My mom gave me a fire extinguisher as a present once.

Seeing the Miracles

Friday started off with one of my cats jumping on my bed to wake me up and then proceeding to pee on my foot. Thanks, Milky Way, I’m awake now.

One could reasonably assume this was the worst part of my day. Don’t be so hasty, it was not. Expensive car problems, slipping and falling flat on my face at work and handling more complaints than normal at work vied for the top spot. Goodbye money, hello bruised knee (and ego). TGIF, indeed.

Saturday was completely different (thank goodness!). I was able to spend time catching up with a few blogs that I love (http://www.atticusuncensored.com/, for one) and a website that I could spend all day on (http://www.caregiving.com/). Both have discussed miracles in recent posts (http://www.caregiving.com/ even has a “miracle meter” to keep track of miracles people experience).

Miracles come in both big and small packages. Sometimes they sneak in between some crappy days and could be easy to overlook if you’re not paying attention.

Saturday morning continued with me catching up on tweeting. Tweeting? Really? I know – who knew this person who can barely turn the television on (and will just about give up if there’s the added component of figuring out how to remove an x-box from it), would love to tweet! (A miracle in itself).

After reading and tweeting and passing out +Ks to people (to help with their Klout score, of course!), Hubby and I picked up Hubby’s Mom and Robert and spent the day going to lunch and the movies.

The day flowed perfectly. Robert’s bathroom breaks fit into the lunch and movie schedule better than if they had been planned. We were not late for lunch (we were meeting Hubby’s brother) and had plenty of time to visit before leaving to make it to the movie and get settled in before previews. We brought both the walker (to be used at lunch) and the transport chair (to be used at the movie) which helped tremendously. Robert didn’t mind being pushed around at the movie and he maintained his independence by walking with the assistance of the walker the rest of the day. Hubby’s back was bothering him (the change in weather doesn’t help his pain at all) but he didn’t let that get in the way of a good time. Hubby’s mom enjoyed a day spent with us that didn’t involve hospitals or doctors (she’s had more than her share this year).

After lunch and the movie, we picked up new reading glasses, other personal supplies and pens for Robert at a nearby drug store and went home to eat dinner. The day ended watching a come-from-behind victory from my favorite football team, the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Hubby, Robert and I whooped and hollered as they exploded in the 2nd half of the game, clearly leaving Ohio State to ask, “what the heck just happened?” Woohoo! Go Big Red!

It was a pretty awesome day full of little miracles. Although, not getting peed on counts as a pretty big miracle if you ask me.

I hope your day is full of miracles both big and small!