Dizzy Days and a Typewriter (Update for February 15, 2016)

Sam didn't particularly want to go to therapy today. He's feeling so much better that it's easy for him to want to "skip" therapy, but he knows it's for his health and his future and it's important to go ... so he went. And it went great. He spent 3.5 hours with speech, occupational and physical therapists. He won't have to go back until after his cranioplasty on February 29. Then, he will continue with all three therapies to see what is better or different after that second surgery.

Although he is improving every day, he still is struggling with dizziness. Because this continues to be an issue, he will have to see a neuro-optomestrist as well as the audiologist. He also has to visit an ortho rehab doctor, to check on his injured ankle. Doctors and more doctors.

Bridget surprised Sam with a selfless and thoughtful gift for Valentine's Day, a typewriter. Sam and Bridget are old souls, and this is a perfect gift for a poet, excuse me, a "writer of prose" as he says. I asked Bridget if it actually worked, and she proved it to me (see photo). People of my age learned on a typewriter, but Sam didn't, he took "keyboarding" in high school. What's old is new to him. Writing on a typewriter takes determination; it's not easy to make a change. You better write what you feel ... and mean it ... because it's difficult to start again. Some of you remember that.

Sam's favorite picture. 

Sam is a talented, pure "writer of prose," a creative hoarder, rarely sharing his reflective musings. Molly writes easily of her life and feelings, an essayist with a gift for storytelling. There is power in their writing, and I hope they both will share more of it with the world someday. I wish I had their talents, but I'm a technical writer, a grammar nerd. They love words and books and poetry, and it's a gift.

Dad, stepmom, Dan, Sam and Molly.

I'm anxious to go to Portland at the end of February, to see my son and Bridget, my daughter who is joining us for a long weekend, and my dad and stepmom ... who have never met Bridget! It's going to be nice reunion, even under the circumstances.

Thank you for reading this blog, and for thinking of my sweet son.