Yesterday was my cousin’s graduation dinner.  We had such a good time and I hope that she did too.  Our family jokes a lot as it is, but add Grandma’s brother and his girlfriend into the mix and the volume gets cranked up.  He is a jokester just like my other uncle.  Now I see where my uncle gets it from.  My aunt’s mother was there and she was very nice.  She’s from Alabama and it was so nice to see her again.

The food at the restaurant was excellent.  I had chicken francise and mozzarella balls and Grandma had chicken picada.  We had a good number of people there.  I hope that we gave my cousin the best graduation gift ever and I hope she had the time of her life.

I love you Britney and I hope that you had the time of your life yesterday.

Last night, an extraordinary milestone occurred.  My cousin graduated high school.  I nearly broke down when the candidates for graduation marched out to the ceremony.  Lines of purple and white flourished between the rows of seats.  Young men and women marched to their seats.  There were the usual speech after speech and it was a hot evening so I just wanted the names to be called.  They had a few musical performances, which I enjoyed.  Then, finally the graduates were released.  Name after name was called.  Some families had noise makers, but we didn’t think to bring one so my aunt borrowed one from the people behind us but I didn’t know it so when we cheered for her, I was startled by the bell.  After the ceremony, we went to have some desserts and boy, my aunt loves to bake.  There were a lot of desserts and I couldn’t decide what to have.  I was in a peanut butter craving so I had the peanut butter lasagna.  I probably should have tried the oreo cake, but I didn’t.  But I got to see my family and I enjoyed that.  Tomorrow is the graduation dinner so I will have more to tell on Monday.

Hats off to the Class of 2015

There are a lot of adaptive sports such as wheelchair basketball and soccer, but as the idea of modifying sports becomes more popular, more adaptive sports arise.  Check out this video of a boy with cerebral palsy as he goes snorkeling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVpyLysEqW8

Ever since I was young, and even when I was afraid of the water, I wanted to go snorkeling, but couldn’t since I couldn’t swim and water would get into the mask and set my tone off.  But now that I’m getting older and can swim with a life jacket, I wish I could get this special mask and try it.  The mask probably costs a fortune, but I hope that it becomes more popular on the market.  Just like this guy in the video, I wish that I could pursue my dream.  I think that even if your dreams are small like going snorkeling or parasailing, that you have the right to pursue it.  Hopefully I will fulfill this dream in the future.

No matter how small the dream is, you have the right to pursue it.  We discuss this at the support groups a lot.  Say that you have trouble opening a can with the can opener.  You have to start small.  See that you can hold the opener and then work on turning it and cutting the lid of the can open.  It’s the same with big goals.  You work in small steps to accomplish your goals and if you want it bad enough, you work endlessly to achieve it.  Try try and try again until you can’t can try no longer.

Now that I’m  home, a lot of things are coming up.  I’m trying to get my motorized wheelchair serviced before the start of the school year.  I’m still waiting for the community helper to start and that is taking a long time to start.  I really want to get out and get to enjoy the community.  This process has been very long and I’m hoping for a positive end.  I now have to get a prescription to get an evaluation for augmentative communication so I am just hoping that I get something before the warranty on my current Dynavox expires.  I don’t want to go back to using my communication board.  I took too long to tap out long messages and I felt totally speechless.  The communication board didn’t speak for me and when people were talking I had no way to say “Excuse me” politely.  I felt like I was rudely interrupting conversations and long-winded conversations would always get cut short.  And I don’t want those days back.  I’ll type my messages in Word before I go back to the board.

Sorry for that rant.  I’m feeling so frustrated lately and it’s taking a toll on me emotionally. I hope that this subsides in a positive way and I can build more positive experiences.  I’ll keep you posted on any updates.

I just got back from Florida.  What a relaxing time it was.  I was with Grandma and we went to visit a friend.  We had a blast riding the train, visiting places like Tampa Bay Zoo, the dog races, Hard Rock Café, Botanical Gardens, Clearwater Aquarium and I swam almost every day.  We had beautiful weather every day.  It rained when we were at the zoo.  I tried going to the beach and that failed.

Our friend’s town was very convenient.  It’s like he lives in the center of the town and everything surrounds him.  He lives in a development and they have a pool with a spa.  I went in it almost every single day.  I almost conquered the backstroke.  Breaststroke not so much.  I was climbing the stairs in the deep end and flinging myself into the water.  Once again, I tried a mask and I couldn’t do it.  I used the spa and really enjoyed it.

Grandma, our friend, his son and I went to the dog races and it was fun.  We bet on greyhounds and we had a buffet dinner.  I really enjoyed the vegetable ravioli and I forget what meat I had, but it was good.  We bet on quite a few races and we each won a race and we each won a race.  It really got competitive and it was just very fun.

I went to Hard Rock Café. I am not a big gambler, but I played a few games.  We had dinner at the buffet.  I had a good dinner and dessert.  We then went to the casino and I played the slot machines.  I was slow to warm up to gambling but I played.  Grandma and I played the penny machines and on the last machine, we played and on the last spin, we got a large sum of money.  I took the money and ran.  I don’t gamble to lose the money.  And our friend’s son was hesitant to gamble at the races and the casino, but he won too.

We met some of their family and they are a very nice family.  We went to the Tampa Bay Zoo and ate dinner at Flaming Steakhouse.  We had the oldest son and his daughter over for dinner.  The granddaughter and I went swimming and she went to play the Wii and I took a nap.

We accidentally ran into the Botanical gardens while visiting Heritage Village.  Heritage Village was like my local Museum Village and it was very interesting.  They had different buildings like a church and a gazebo.  It was very spaced-out.  It was a lot bigger than Museum Village and they were redoing some of their buildings.  The Botanical gardens were gorgeous.  My favorite one was the wedding garden.  We didn’t walk the whole thing, but the parts we saw were beautiful.

The train ride wasn’t great.  The view was scenic, but the service was poor.  Nobody came to ask us if we wanted something to eat.  There was a man on both trips that had a bad knee and he asked for accessible seating and they wouldn’t give it to him.  And then, coming home, there was an elderly woman with diabetes and she had an aide that obviously didn’t like her job.  The aide left her to go to the club car and didn’t return for hours.  It got me thinking what if I was in that situation?  I would tell my grandmother and I would fire the aide.  Never let an aide be rude to you.  If they are not nice, get another aide.  You deserve respect and nothing less.

All in all, it was a good vacation.

Today I thought that I would share a poem with you.  It addresses the question of where I belonged in my high school years.  One question that was on the mind during junior and senior years of high school was: “Where do I belong?  Am I hanging with the right people?” And this poem addresses that question.  I hope that you enjoy it.

The people around you are there for support.

They will comfort you in a time of need.

You build a connection nobody else can read.

They always will be there in case you need comfort.

And shouldn’t they be the one there in perilous times,

Helping their other friends through a bad situation?

They are what people need to deal with frustration.

They should make sure nobody will be left behind.

The real question is this.

Who will be your true friend?

Will they stay with you until the end,

Or will the friendship be dismissed?

I say we must depart!

We fought each other enough!

Even though leaving will be tough,

You will still be in my heart.

Life goes on to find people that are true.

A fake friend is nothing to grieve upon.

There are people who will keep the bond.

So there is no reason to be blue.