The Return

After being out of the country for ten days I am feeling overwhelmed by all that did not come to a standstill while we were gone. It has been repeated often—the time you need a vacation is when you’ve just returned from one. What you need is a week of no outside responsibilities, just being at home to attend to the accumulation and the most important thing—paying attention to neglected children (two sisters manned the homefront while we were gone). We walked in the door with suitcases, bags and coats and were greeted by a clean house and two happy sons. Clark showed his excitement by giving numerous hugs and lots of “I love you” and following us closely from room to room. I did manage one hug from Phil and could tell by his “Hello Sweetness”, delivered with a sweet smile, that he was also glad to have us home. As we walked upstairs and to our bedroom to start the process of unpacking and putting away I could see vacuum marks in the carpet. Our bed was made (which I would expect) but when we pulled back the rumpled duvet and top sheet we saw a fitted sheet that barely clung to the corners because under it was our blanket. So the line up went like this—mattress, blanket, fitted sheet, top sheet, duvet. We laughed as we scratched our heads. Here is what happened. After the bed had been stripped, sheets and pillowcases washed, Phil was put in charge of making our bed. He is diligent in making his own bed daily, changing his sheets every Monday and putting them back on when they have been cleaned BUT he has a twin bed and is not used to making a queen-size bed all by himself. We were clearly touched by his effort and praised him for his work (after we altered the layers and smoothed out the wrinkles when he was not looking). It was great to get away for a while but even greater to get home.
This is actually a picture of Clark's work at an earlier date. In the excitement of being home and remaking the bed that Phil made we failed to take a picture.

Annual Fragile X Picnic

I’ve been thinking a lot about the annual state fragile X picnic which was held on Saturday. With about 40 people who came I would consider it a success. One family (grandmother, daughter and her two sons, one of whom is affected) traveled three hours to associate with other fragile X families. I met families who have never come to anything but now feel a need to connect with others who understand what they are dealing with. Just as in the general population there is a wide range of disabilities (and abilities) with those who have fragile X. Yesterday we had verbal and nonverbal boys. Come to think of it there were only boys (and men) with fragile X at the picnic. I know families who have daughters with fragile X but they didn’t come. Many who came were anxious and showed their anxiety in different ways. One had his baseball hat pulled down low while he sat alone and silent in a chair, a nine-year old started crying as soon as he saw the resident big, black dog and cried for most of the two hours he and his family were there. Another hid behind his mother and ate at a distance from most of the attendees. Phil was his normal, noisy self, laughing a lot and thoroughly enjoying the picnic while eating more than his share. Clark was talkative and more than happy to go over the high points of the state softball tournament where their team took the silver.

A Busy Week

It has been quite a week for Clark and Phil. It was time to get out our (Fragile X Association of Washington State) semi-annual newsletter. Getting over 200 newsletters in the mail shouldn’t take too long. Wrong! Spread out over four days, this project took longer than expected but not as long as it would have if it hadn’t been for Clark and Phil. Clark especially has the patience to sit for hours putting on return labels, stamps, and address labels. Then there is the stuffing of the envelopes. No one wants to lick the flap so out come the glue sticks. Phil makes one swipe with the glue stick and then folds over the flap. Clark on the other hand, because of his perseveration, goes back and forth with the glue stick five times. I counted. We are finished now and all newsletters have been mailed.

A friend of ours broke her leg in two places so while she was in a rehab facility Clark and Phil helped three others mow and weed whack her yard. It will need to be redone before she returns home in a month or two.

It was also the state Special Olympics softball tournament on Saturday. Clark and Phil’s team qualified for state a couple of weeks ago. I’m not sure they have ever played on the state level. Saturday was a perfect day, 70 degrees, for sitting outside and cheering on The Screaming Eagles for two games. They won the first game. Then came the second game a few hours later. Where had those giants come from who won their first game 18-0, who knew how to connect with almost any pitched ball and could throw the ball to first base before the cheering section could even open their mouths to tell the batter “good hit.” The other team won 10-2 and I am happy to report Phil drove in the two runs for our team. Win or lose “the boys” had a great time in playing and a great time in the retelling.

Morningside Farm

We were up early for a Saturday, 6:00 a.m., so we could meet others at 7:00 and carpool to Vashon Island where we were doing a service project at Morningside Farm.

“Morningside Farm is 105 acres of woods on Vashon Island. Just a short ferry ride from three points in the Puget Sound area, it is a peaceful place to get away from busy life. Bridges, a Gazebo and benches are here for reflection or viewing deer feeding in the pastures. Camping areas are available in the meadows and in the woods. There are 2 dormitories on site... The manor, complete with kitchen, sleeps 22; it includes an indoor pool. An apartment, which sleeps 6, is also available, with the Manor or separately. Many points offer views of the Sound, Quartermaster Bay and Mt. Rainier. Another gem of our property is the beach-front.” (“About Morningside Farm” on the web)

It was a beautifully warm day, perfect for standing on the deck of the ferry going to and coming from Vashon. Then there was the 25 minute drive south to the farm where we received our assignments—weed whacking the orchard and cutting up tree trunks and stacking the wood for burning. Clark was hoping to be able to chop wood so he went with that crew and Phil was hoping to use a weed whacker and went with that crew. A chain saw was used with the wood so Clark was not able to use an ax; he helped pick up and stack the wood. There were only so many weed whackers so Phil’s job was to assist by picking up and stacking debris. He loved using the pruners. We arrived home at 2:00 with Phil proclaiming “That was fun!” which he repeated many times throughout the day.

Four-wheeling

Our family vacation in June included two four-wheeling excursions for Paul, his brother Uncle Tommy (the owner of the four-wheelers), Clark and Phil. The first excursion for an entire afternoon was to the hills by Menan. They came back dirty, happy, and talkative “That was FUN!” Both Clark and Phil had an opportunity to drive but most of the time they were in back of someone. The next day “the boys” went four-wheeling again while “the girls” went shopping for Father’s Day gifts. I got a call from Phil while I was in a store. He wanted me to guess where they were. Of course I knew but I guessed MacDonalds. “No,” Phil said with an indignant laugh “on top of a mountain.”

The Middle of the Night

There was no particular incident today that motivated this post. It was a relatively quiet day. Phil vacuumed the upstairs and down the stairs and Clark vacuumed the entire downstairs. Then Phil went out to mow some spots he missed yesterday while Clark went with Paul to see an elderly friend of ours who has always loved gardening but can no longer do much. Paul and Clark mowed his lawn, did a little weeding and then stayed to talk. He is 88, a widower, and life is definitely winding down. They go to his house two or three times a month.

4:15 a.m. We all went to bed at a decent time. I awoke at 2:30 and instead of tossing and turning I came to my desk. Soon Phil was at the door of the study “What are you doing Mom?” I told him I couldn’t sleep and he told me he couldn’t either. Coughing awoke Paul so he joined us in the study and then in came Clark. As Paul was putting on some quiet music he told everyone it was not talking time. Clark has been known to say “I’m not talking to you; I’m talking to Mom.” Phil was carrying around a shower radio to hear what the weather will be today. Now that he knows I think he has gone back to bed. Clark just left the study and returned with lather on his face. He had shaved and will need some tidying up. He hopes to be able to run some errands tomorrow with Paul and I hope to soon follow Phil’s example and go back to bed.

Our Anniversary

It was our wedding anniversary yesterday and we celebrated by going to a full day of softball and time out at noon for lunch at Taco Bell. It was the regional softball tournament for Clark and Phil. We arrived at 8:30 and left at 4:30 and were thrilled by three wins which means they will move on to state in three weeks. I don’t remember this ever happening for them but am not betting on it. If they ever went to state it was so long ago none of us can remember. I do remember, however, what happened last year at the regional tournament. Paul and I left for lunch and when we returned to the games and to our Coleman camping chairs which we had left set up this is what we found.

We never did find out who they were, two from another team, but we let them enjoy the seats until they were rested and ready to move on.