Loose Ends...Kinda

When Rachel graduated from high school in June, we were all proud, and very relieved to not have to worry about school anymore for awhile. She had decided to take a gap year, at least, and just rest, and work with her dog, and spend time with her boyfriend, and just...be.

We had a wonderful summer, spending time at the beach, and at the river, and just hanging out at home, or cruising garage sales on the weekends. Rachel's boyfriend Jonah finished boot camp, and moved on to AIT in VA.

Now here we are, August is almost over, the rain is returning, days are cooling off, leaves are turning, and we're not preparing for school. It's weird. Every year, for 13 years, we did the school prep thing, and this year we're not. Instead we're working with Rachel on life skills, and trying to get her more motivated to do things for herself.

Yes, we over-compensated in a big way, we enabled her to be dependent on us for everything, and we robbed her of the experience of doing things for herself, and didn't expect nearly enough from her. Dr. Phil would be horrified. We can't really make up for that now, but we're working on it. Rachel now fills her own med tray each week, has a different chore that she's responsible for each day of the week, in addition to her daily chores of emptying the dishwasher and feeding/caring for her dog.

We do have some stuff coming up this fall: We volunteered to man a table for the Epilepsy Foundation NW on Sept. 12, for the Oregon employees season of giving campaign. Then we're working on raising funds for Disneyland's first ever Epilepsy Awareness Day on Nov 7th. We've raised about 1/3 of what we need for that trip, and are working on earning more with Bonanza and ebay sales. Our friends have been a wonderful support, and are donating and buying items, and that helps so much.

We're in the middle of a medication wean, with a look toward reducing one of Rachel's AEDs, and potentially being able to try CBD therapy in the future. So many considerations, not the least of which is finances. If it's not covered by insurance, it might not be doable.

I feel a stream of consciousness post coming on, but not right now. It's still bubbling and frothing in my head, and isn't anywhere close to coherent.