Carl returned from his incredibly gorgeous time in Norway just in time for Sarah’s first day at Duquesne University in the St. Anthony School Program. It’s a post-secondary program that focuses on job and life skills while pairing the students with work-study students for the jobs that are on campus. There are some academic classes and time at a practice apartment too, but a lot of Sarah’s time is spent at her jobs. Two jobs are on-campus and involve dorm cleaning and mail delivery. Two jobs are off-campus. One involves making boxes of supplies to go to new parents who need assistance, and one involves helping with office work such as putting stamps on envelopes. As with Sarah’s past years of school, her favorite part is going to her jobs.
To get to school, Sarah and I ride the city bus each way. For her first day, Carl and Amy rode with us. That really was a testament of Amy’s love because she had to get up waaaaaay earlier than she usually does in the summer.
Part of what Sarah and I are learning with our bus rides is how to be patient when the Transit app says a bus should be arriving to get us and it isn’t there. Some days the app seemed confused because the bus was either ten minutes late or ten minutes early so the app couldn’t tell what bus it was or when it was actually coming. Luckily the buses run every 15 to 20 minutes and there are two options for us, so we should always be fine, but it is still an exercise in patience, trust, and flexibility.
I learned a lesson on Friday when I was going to get Sarah and will perhaps always use my Transit app to keep track of when to get off the bus. I had gotten a little too comfortable about my routine and wasn’t paying attention to the stops. Sarah happened to call me because she was missing me in the minutes leading up to dismissal. She didn’t say anything on the phone, but her call came at the precise time I needed to look up and realize I was at my stop!
Overall, Sarah’s first week went very well. It was also a lot for her with new things every day and a temperature swing that made it difficult to dress well for the whole day. The mornings were cool, the afternoons hot, and some of the buses and buildings overly air-conditioned. Pants were usually fine, but on Friday the students did a lot of walking around campus, and I think that led to her being hot, tired, and sad by the time school was done. On Monday she emerged smiling and holding her pictures of Granddad and Pop-Pop. On Friday she walked up to me and burst into tears. We are having a very low-key weekend to help replenish her reserves.
Part of Sarah’s strategy for helping herself when she is at home is to do repetitive things that often involve a motor of some sort, such as shredding paper from our bag of things to shred. However, right now our shredder isn’t working, so she got creative. I found her using a star-shaped hole puncher that she found in our craft-supply bin to punch holes in the to-shred papers. Another time she got out her small sewing machine to sew some lines in musical note fabric. Last night she vacuumed and then somehow balanced the vacuum next to it’s stand so that only the very front edge of the vacuum was standing on a stair and all of the rest of it was suspended in the air. I don’t know if I could do that intentionally if I tried! Earlier in the night I found her with our printer, one toner cartridge removed, a pile of unrelated screws that hold the printer together next to her, and a screw-driver in hand. It is a testament to both of us that such a moment didn’t turn into a screaming disaster. Somehow I remained calm enough to have her replace the screws and then found instructions for replacing the toner that did actually need to be replaced. To her credit, she gave me the time to do this without adding to the tension. She is becoming ever-more capable, which means I don’t need to check on her so much and means I should check on her often because I have no idea what new thing she will try next!
Amy has been cat-sitting for a neighbor this week, and the cat is a very lucky cat to have Amy. After she provides the food and scoops the litterbox, she always allows plenty of time to give the cat love and attention. She even went over an extra time yesterday just to pet the cat! She is a better cat-sitter than I and a better cat-mom than I. Admittedly, our cat was testing my love this week when she threw up on my dresser! It’s a good thing she is adorable.
I had to impart heartbreaking news to Amy this week. Delta was unable to locate Amy’s beloved bobcat that somehow impossibly got lost earlier this summer on our flight to Seattle. They have closed the case, as has the Seattle airport. Because I am unable to completely let go of hope, I have started scouring Ebay and other resale sites with the tiny flicker a prayer that someone found it and will post it for sale. Astonishingly, there are tons of used Wild Republic bobcat (or lynx) stuffed animals available all over. So far, none of them is Spot-Spot. But, if you happen to ever be in a place anywhere that re-sells previously loved plushies, and if you see any animal that looks like Amy’s (and might even have “Amy” written on the tag), please send me a picture on the spot so that if somehow you have found her then you can buy her, and I will reimburse you for the animal and shipping. Stranger things have happened. After all, in a world where Sarah could call me at the exact moment I needed to get off the bus, then anything is possible.
Sending lots of love to all of you.
Leave a Reply