Three weeks.
That’s how much time we have left until the first day of school. This summer has both flown and dragged in its own way. Our school board voted late in the year to push the opening of school back by one week – a move that I personally like because it gives us some breathing room after the end of summer activities. I’m using the break to work on completing potty training (again); I’m not optimistic but I feel like I need to give it the ol’ college try (again). While we’re un-busy is a good time to look back at a few of the things I’ve learned so far this summer.
1. I forget a lot of books I read, quickly.
I started keeping a reading journal in 2016, but I hated the format I was using and decided to redo it more in the style of the bullet journal, which meant hastily recreating records from earlier this year. As I was moving books from earlier this year over to the redone journal, I realized I couldn’t have come up with a two-sentence synopsis for a lot of them.
2. Shaquille O’Neal has a B.A., M.B.A, and Ed.D.
We watched the Women’s College World Series (Auburn made it to the finals – War Eagle!) and the NCAA aired a commercial titled “Dreams” during the series that featured him. At the end of it, his name and degrees were listed in the bottom corner. I’m always happy to learn that professional athletes finished their education; in Shaq’s case, he did a lot more than that.
3. Wal-Mart Grocery Pickup is the bomb.
I’m pretty sure no one uses that phrase anymore, but I’m old and can’t think of a better alternative at the moment. I tried it out at the beginning of the summer and have used it ever since. It’s so much easier to make my grocery list and create the order at home than to take Nathan with me and try not to miss something on my list while he’s putting various and sundry unnecessary items in the cart, hugging random strangers, and running.
Grocery pickup is free as long as your order is over $30 and you don’t even have to get out of your car! Use this link to get $10 off your first order (full disclosure: I get a little something, too, if you use it, but I’m sharing it with you only because I LOVE this service – and two months ago I’d have told you that I hated Wal-Mart). I love me some Publix, but Wal-Mart has saved my sanity this summer. No joke.
4. Sarah Kate wants to drive a Toyota Tacoma pickup when she gets her license.
At the start of our recent car-buying adventure, Sarah Kate and I popped into the local Toyota dealership so I could see how well she could get in and out of a Toyota 4Runner (I had one for years but got rid of it shortly before Nathan was born because of that issue). As we were headed out, I tried to show her the Rav4 and Corolla, but she insisted she wasn’t interested in either one…and walked over to a Tacoma, declaring it her preferred mode of transportation.
5. Sesame Street fired three veteran cast members.
Bob McGrath (Bob), Emilio Delgado (Luis) and Roscoe Orman (Gordon) were all let go earlier this year (although that decision appears to have been walked back since word got out and fans of the show freaked out). I always loved Sesame Street – maybe it’s because my mom was given the opportunity to watch early episodes before they aired while a grad student and pregnant with me. As an adult, I came to understand that Sesame Street was a model for inclusion and diversity – children with disabilities were routinely featured on the show before schools were even required by law to educate them.
Just as upsetting was the news that Sesame Street is now part of HBO (a move to shore up badly needed funding) and new episodes won’t be on PBS until nine months after they air on pay TV. Although I understand the move, it’s a bitter pill to swallow given that Sesame Street was created to help prepare low income children for school. I love this piece in The New Yorker about the show.
6. Godspell is a really odd musical.
Sarah Kate did a two-week theater camp that culminated in a production of Godspell, Jr. I vaguely knew that it was a musical about Jesus with emphasis on the parables and that it opened in the early 70s. The good news is that Sarah Kate had a great time and the show was really well done – it’s amazing what a bunch of kids can accomplish in such a short time. The better news is that Sarah Kate had a much better experience than with The Other Performance Group in town – the director told me early on that “theater is for everyone” and it’s clear she meant it. But the show itself is pretty much Jesus-in-the-time-of-flower-children. And that’s weird.
Godspell is REALLY weird. You are not alone! I’ve never understood the appeal of that show.
And our local version at least had something that sorta-kinda looked like Jesus on the cross, as opposed to…Jesus on an electric fence (!!!!!) in the original musical.
Hey Andi. I have spastic cerebral palsy and when I was 16 I was told I could not drive a car because of the startle reflex because of my CP. I suggest you get Sarah Kate tested for the startle reflex to see if you can even drive a car when she is 16.
I meant to see if she can drive a car
Do you mean you can’t drive at all? Or do you have to use a hand control rather than your feet? Who told you this/tested you?
Yes I mean I cannot drive at all. As for who told me this/tested me, I live in Canada, and when I went to fill out a form for my learners permit. I wrote down for insurance reasons that I have CP. A few weeks later I was contacted by the government of the province I live in. I was tested to see if they was a difference between me using hand controls or my feet but the reaction time was the same. For testing my startle reflex the occupational and physicial therapist startled me on purpose when the 3 of us were in a car driving in a parking lot. My hands and feet came off the wheel and gas pedal and they timed how long it took me to get back in control. I wasn’t fast enough. So the therapists said I shouldn’t drive because if something on the road startled me and I couldn’t get in control fast enough they didn’t want something like a car accident to happen.
I’ve only ever driven a Toyota Camry (1999 and 2005 models) and I have to say, they’re great. Sarah Kate knows what she wants and she’s going in the right direction!
We’ve been a Toyota family for years! One detour into a Volvo wagon but just for a little while.
I re-learned my instrument at band camp and learned that I’m a yonsei (two sansei parents).
Andi, I have startle reflex. I drive (with hand controls and a steering knob) with over 2,500,000 miles with a superb safety record. In company vehicles and personal vehicles. Driving a 1997 Volvo 960 with over 280,000 miles, likely staying with mid size car or larger (Wagon if possible or minivan). I see no reason with proper adaptive equipment and training and evaluation that SK can’t drive. Do tell her she needs safe entry and exit and room for her chair when needed. I will be looking for another vehicle soon (my interior has not aged well and AC don’t work) within a few months. And I at 52 years old, need easy entry and exit and not step up high or over to get in. Our company Jeep is not SDCP friendly (an old 1969 Wagoneer) had to have pull up bars above the door frames and low running boards for safety (our company OT insisted these be installed). Also, SK needs extra time to get where she’s going on long trips and stretch her legs. A safety issue. We mainly drive Volvo wagons, Ford Transit Connect small vans, we have a Toyota Sienna Braun Entervan lift conversion for an engineering vehicle, and have a few Saturn L series station wagons and Freightliner Sprinter remote trucks and old hearses for station service. Just some thoughts for you as mother helping SK access her world and sprout her independence. Do discuss these thoughts with her Physiatrist and the Rehab Hospital OT department is a wealth of useful knowledge for disabled drivers. My knowledge and experience is available to you, and my perspectives on independence and aging with SDCP and spina bifida.
Thank you for sharing your experiences, Kent! I actually do think Sarah Kate will be able to drive, probably with a hand control like you mentioned (not sure if a knob will be necessary). It sounds like maybe I should have held onto the Volvo station wagon rather than trade it in. 🙁 My new vehicle has running boards – added after the fact for her but also for Nathan, since he’s still little! – and a grab bar inside the door and has been relatively easy for her to climb in and out of, despite the height. I’m wondering if something like a Toyota Rav4 or other small SUV-type vehicle would be a good choice for her – not too high, but also not too low, with some cargo space in the back (though I’m not sure it would be enough for the chair unless it was partially broken down, since it doesn’t fold, but that’s not a major issue since she doesn’t need it that often). We are still a year and a half away from being able to apply for a permit and then another year away from the possibility of a license, but when we get closer I’ll keep your offer in mind!
I can see a RAV4 as practical, or better yet a Highlander as something which works for her. Fold a seat, chair goes in fine usually. A lot of chair users I know drive them. And also right height for her to enter and exit in, she can more easily see what is around and behind her driving.