Note to self: "God is in control."

Note to self:  Do not leave home without double checking that you have Gary's afternoon medicine.

Its been a fun-filled week of fire fighting, inquisitive students, employees and good energy.  God has provided me with a tremendous energy this week.  Two of my key employees are on vacation, so my assistant and I moved to the second floor to be available as needed and to "be in the middle" of all the excitement surrounding this time in our industry.

I cancelled my team management meeting this morning as Gary and I were scheduled to be at a friend's house at 8:30am to consider moving there.  He is now retired and will be needing the house through October and then we can move in.  The house is perfect for us. It is 1.2 miles from my school.  THe whole situation appears to be heaven blessed. I took many pictures for my own planning for when we move and to show Gary as I knew he would not remember parts of the house, if not all of it. I was right.  In the car, he said that he had not seen the third car garage after we had stood in it and had a conversation about the shelving and storage.  The picture triggered a memory.

Right after we left the house, I took Gary to the CLUB.  We got him there right on time.  The arts and craft supplies were on the table and ready to go for all participants.  The ladies at the check in table asked if I brought Gary's pills as they have a check in and monitoring system and I had not made the deposit.  I instantly remembered that I had not packaged his afternoon pills this morning because I was busy removing a wrinkle from an article that was crammed way too far back in my closet.  Oh poop!  I went back to the car to get Gary some Sedalia to take at lunch.  At least that might help with his stress in the afternoon.  When I went back in to deposit the pills, Gary had gone to the restroom so I waited for him to exit before I left.  We usually kiss goodbye.

I waited for what seemed like forever.  He finally came out and sat at the table forgetting that I was there.  I was mid conversation with the Room Lead, Barbara when he noticed me.  He said, "Hey honey, we are going to color butterflies!"  I asked for a pretty one, kissed him goodbye and left.  I was so stressed when I got in my car that I sat there for a few minutes to decompress.

My morning was back to back exciting issues, events and updates.  Some of the girls and I went to lunch and to pick up invitations from Kinkos.  Everything fell behind and Jennifer ended up taking me to pick up Gary.  As we pulled in, most of the participants were exiting the CLUB...all of them were using walkers.  I always see them all sitting in a circle, not moving around.  I was shocked at the difference between them and Gary.  His disability has not impacted him physically other than his cognitive issues.  It was depressing knowing that he is among them.  It was exciting having a place for him to belong and never get frustrated. 

He seemed fine when we got in the car.  We drove across town to pick up an employee we had left at Kinkos.  He knows both of them but I reintroduced him to both.  We were in the car less than ten minutes and he started his noisemaking.  Here it comes.....wait for it....quietly he said, "I'm so overwhelmed."

Why Gary?  He responded that he didn't know.  We hurried into the school as I was late for a meeting.  I told him that I was leaving him in my office to read as I was working upstairs and had a lot of appointments.  I armed him with a positive book and a cup of destressing tea. About two hours later, I asked Erica to go down to check on him.  The next thing I knew, they were both in the office next door and he was reading to Erica.  I went in and asked him to go to a private office where he could read and not disturb anyone.  At that point, he was very antsy. 

We headed home and by the time we hit the freeway he was over the top freakazoid.  He huffed and he puffed.  All the way home. It was 75 degrees outside and cooler in the car.  He insisted he was cold, very cold.  We drove about 25 miles with an 85 degree heater blowing.  Note to self:  "Pretend you are in Haiti and don't complain."

We immediately fixed him a tranquil bath upon arriving home.  Extra lavender and epsom salts did the trick for about 20 minutes.  I pumped all the destressing pills and hot tea into him hoping for a quick remedy.  He didn't finish dinner.  He sat with his head down while I worked out on the Gazelle that we have moved to the living room.  When I finished, he took my place and then spent some time on the Total Gym.....all of a sudden, I noticed he was acting more normally and hasn't puffed or complained for almost fifteen minutes.  It is 9:55pm and he just decided to go out and water our garden.  Hey, if he feels like it, great!  Oops, false alarm.  Its too cold for him. Now, he is doing dishes.

I think the medicine kicked in.....he is normal now.  I want to sleep now.  Not sure how I do it.  Hoping for strength and continued patience for him and for myself.  I love my job and I have always enjoyed the adrenaline rush of it.  This new adrenaline rush in my life is a whole new ballgame.  Heather suggested Adrenal overload might be a part of her Dad's problem....well, could be mine, too. Naw.....just a thought.  Note to self: "God is in control."