Hi Everyone,

I’m grateful to my father for coming down from NY for another weekend adding another helping hand. The kids have been great with transferring Corey and I improve each day. In fact, I’ve felt so much better, I cooked dinner last night and tonight and took a trip to the grocery store today. (In hindsight, the latter turned out to be pushing it a bit too far but I recovered after a few hours rest on the couch).

Corey had a very interesting memory this weekend. Aunt Diane and Uncle Peter texted Corey on the way to Citifield to watch the Mets vs. Phillies. Their seats were on the 1st base line. They asked Corey to name her favorite players so they could take a picture of the player up at bat and send it to her via text message..

Corey’s face lite up, she smiled as if she was going to announce her players names when suddenly the spark in her eyes dimmed, she paused and said, “I don’t know Mom”. I could see she was trying to remember but couldn’t find the words.

M – Let me help you. I’m going to give you the first name, you tell me the last names (of course I cheated by pulling up the roster on the internet). I chose the names I recognized and Corey completed each players last name.

M – Okay, now I’m going to give you the last name and you tell me the position they play. (Corey was 4/10) I was a little disappointed. I thought Corey’s love of baseball would have been a stronger memory for her. Possibly a breakthrough memory. Then it occured to me…
M – Corey, what year is it?
C – 2007? No, 2008!

THAT’S IT,..she’s remembering the World Series Season! I pulled up the roster for 2008 and asked Corey the same questions; she was 7/10 for the last names and player positions! I shared this story with our friend Dan who has given Corey 2 recent opportunities to see “her boys” again. He laughed and commented, “Well, if you’re going to remember the Phillies, 2008 was the year to remember”!

This memory was very exciting but we also experienced a sad reality. Some of you will remember that our laundry room, off the kitchen, was converted to Corey’s handicapped bathroom. Caitlin was preparing to give Corey a shower. As they walked into the new bathroom, Corey became very volitile. She didn’t recognize the room, didn’t understand why she couldn’t go upstairs to her shower or why she needed someone else’s help to shower. She was completely disoriented.

We reiterated the mantra about the accident and the renovation. She screamed and demanded to know where she was when all this happened. My retort, “you were in a coma”….she paused, looked around the room then back at us and calmly said, “I slept through a lot”!

I share these stories because we live every day minute by minute. We have a break through and then a set back and then a reason to laugh.

We can’t focus on the minutes we step back. We must keep looking for the minutes that show us the new connections and new achievements. When we capitalize on the positive minutes we will continue to create new opportunities that we hope will transform minutes into hours and then days. A clock ticks one minute at a time, in one direction ~ forward! xoxo