8:37am
Today is Taylor's 22nd birthday. In the "early years", we celebrated Taylor and Lauren's birthdays like most families did - balloons, cake, etc. But, then they got older and too cool for all that. Then, birthdays became a little quieter and usually involved the birthday boy or girl picking the restaurant where we had dinner.
This year, Taylor wants to keep it low key. He has school at 11am, so he's coming home after that and hanging out with us until his Aunt and Grandmother come down this afternoon at 5:30pm to visit, then he's off to visit with some friends in Lakeland. Just the fact that Taylor is here and can do just about everything he could before the wreck is reason to celebrate daily. But today is a day we can welcome in a new year with him here and able to enjoy life just about like he always could.
He continues to heal from the surgery he had in June. There is still some swelling in the cheek area, but the Doctor said previously it would probably last until October. The soreness is gone, so it doesn't really bother him any.
Taylor started back to school a few weeks ago and his classes don't get any easier. He's taking calculus and chemistry but has a little easier class, wellness. Wednesdays are a little rough - he has classes from 11am - 5pm, so when he get home from that he's pretty wasted. He has his first calculus test this coming Monday, and he says he'll do well.
He has not been going to the gym as often as he had been during the summer. We've noticed a difference in his walking, and have encouraged him to try and get to the gym at least once a week. He's taking tough classes and studies on his days off from school so it's not as easy to go as before. And, his stamina is not nearly what it once was so he's often just too tired to go. Either he runs out of steam much faster than he ever did before, or before he just ignored that he was getting tired and kept going, and going, and going. He now recognizes when he's getting tired and comes home rather than push himself like he once did.
Two weeks ago Taylor was fishing with a friend at a city park that was build on the site of an old reclaimed phosphate pit. These pits are like small ponds or lakes ,but they do not have a shore. Taylor lost his footing and fell into the pit while throwing a cast net. His friend, Kevin, immediately went in after him since he knows Taylor is not very strong on his right side. They both had trouble getting out of the pit, since there was a several foot dropoff from the land to the water. Taylor held on to a tree root while Kevin swam to another area where he could climb out then return to help Taylor out. We hadn't really thought about fishing from shore being potentially dangerous to Taylor before, so it was a bit scary to find out what had happened. It won't stop him from fishing, but he knows he can only go with someone who is a strong swimmer and he'll probably not fish off of a drop off like that one.
Taylor is making plans to attend a 3 day concert, the Bear Creek Music and Art Festival, in north Florida in November. Seventy five bands are scheduled to play. Normally, he'd had a tough time negotiating around a lot of people and uneven land. But, the facility rents golf carts and they have reserved one for him since he wouldn't be able to stand in a long line to get one. He's going with several friends to this 700 acre facility. They have a campsite reserved and plan to camp out. I'll be on standby to make the 3 hour drive to go get him if he finds that he's not able to make it through the whole festival.
Happy Birthday, Taylor!!!
This year, Taylor wants to keep it low key. He has school at 11am, so he's coming home after that and hanging out with us until his Aunt and Grandmother come down this afternoon at 5:30pm to visit, then he's off to visit with some friends in Lakeland. Just the fact that Taylor is here and can do just about everything he could before the wreck is reason to celebrate daily. But today is a day we can welcome in a new year with him here and able to enjoy life just about like he always could.
He continues to heal from the surgery he had in June. There is still some swelling in the cheek area, but the Doctor said previously it would probably last until October. The soreness is gone, so it doesn't really bother him any.
Taylor started back to school a few weeks ago and his classes don't get any easier. He's taking calculus and chemistry but has a little easier class, wellness. Wednesdays are a little rough - he has classes from 11am - 5pm, so when he get home from that he's pretty wasted. He has his first calculus test this coming Monday, and he says he'll do well.
He has not been going to the gym as often as he had been during the summer. We've noticed a difference in his walking, and have encouraged him to try and get to the gym at least once a week. He's taking tough classes and studies on his days off from school so it's not as easy to go as before. And, his stamina is not nearly what it once was so he's often just too tired to go. Either he runs out of steam much faster than he ever did before, or before he just ignored that he was getting tired and kept going, and going, and going. He now recognizes when he's getting tired and comes home rather than push himself like he once did.
Two weeks ago Taylor was fishing with a friend at a city park that was build on the site of an old reclaimed phosphate pit. These pits are like small ponds or lakes ,but they do not have a shore. Taylor lost his footing and fell into the pit while throwing a cast net. His friend, Kevin, immediately went in after him since he knows Taylor is not very strong on his right side. They both had trouble getting out of the pit, since there was a several foot dropoff from the land to the water. Taylor held on to a tree root while Kevin swam to another area where he could climb out then return to help Taylor out. We hadn't really thought about fishing from shore being potentially dangerous to Taylor before, so it was a bit scary to find out what had happened. It won't stop him from fishing, but he knows he can only go with someone who is a strong swimmer and he'll probably not fish off of a drop off like that one.
Taylor is making plans to attend a 3 day concert, the Bear Creek Music and Art Festival, in north Florida in November. Seventy five bands are scheduled to play. Normally, he'd had a tough time negotiating around a lot of people and uneven land. But, the facility rents golf carts and they have reserved one for him since he wouldn't be able to stand in a long line to get one. He's going with several friends to this 700 acre facility. They have a campsite reserved and plan to camp out. I'll be on standby to make the 3 hour drive to go get him if he finds that he's not able to make it through the whole festival.
Happy Birthday, Taylor!!!
8:10pm
Taylor didn't want any cake, but at least he agreed to blow out the candles. I guess he wasn't "too cool" for that afterall.
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