Friday October 21, 2005

Friday October 21, 2005 Zack was up at 7:30 and had breakfast. He took a shower and was ready again before I was. Today he got to go on an outing to the mall with Suzanne and Scott (O.T.). He ran into Kara at the mall and she called me very excited that she saw him there. She said at first she was looking around for me but then saw Zack with a clip board and realized he was in therapy. He had to find different stores (2 stores that sold only shoes, 2 stores that carried jeans) and follow their instructions. He did very well until he was in Hollister and found a pair of pants he wanted to buy. He carried them to the cashier but Suzanne stopped him and said, “Don’t you think you better see if you have enough money to buy those?” He counted the money in his wallet and realized he didn’t have enough (of course, this is Hollister!) and he said “thank you for not letting me look like an idiot”. When I arrived to pick him up I brought his therapist the letter he wrote me at the beginning of the summer pleading his case to have his curfew increased (the one I read when I speak). I felt this letter would give them a good insight into who Zack was before his accident so that they could better understand them now. I finally got to meet Dr Peri (his psychologist) and he told Zack to show me his card trick. Zack had me draw a card and then put it back into them deck. One by one he would flip cards over until he found my card. Dr. Peri explained that Zack had watched him do the trick for another person earlier in the day and said he could do it. Dr. Peri said he had showed that trick to many people but no one had ever been able to do it after seeing it only one time. He was very impressed with Zack. He made arrangements with me to sit in on a session next week (I’m really looking forward to being able to be part of therapy again). We ride home and Zack calls his friends and makes arrangements for us to go bowling. Zack took a nap while I was making dinner. When Zack woke up Kyle came in to show me her tooth that just came out. She showed it to Zack and he noticed that it was bleeding. He said, “How’d you do that?” I wiggled it. “Why don’t you wiggle all of them?” Kyle answered “because I don’t want to loose all my teeth”. Zack came back into the kitchen and asked me, “Mom, am I going to lose all my teeth?” I had to explain that he had already lost all his teeth, one at a time, and wouldn’t be losing any more. He said he didn’t remember ever losing any teeth. After dinner, Taylor and Jessica arrive and the four of us head to the bowling alley to meet several more of Zack’s friends. After several games (Zack bowled great by the way) everyone goes to Trey’s house for Ping Pong and pool. Zack was not too excited that I was staying at Trey’s house but when he realized that I was going to sit upstairs with Trey’s parents he relaxed a little bit. He had fun with all his friends but was ready to go home before 11:00. When we got in the car he looked at the clock and commented that it was very late and he couldn’t wait to get home to go to bed. He asked if he could spend the night with Trey tomorrow and I had to explain that he wasn’t going to be spending the night with anybody for a while. He didn’t understand it but by the time we got home he was more interested in getting to bed than anything else. He had a fulfilling day in therapy and fun with his friends. I received a phone call today and will be speaking at KCD on Nov 7th at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes lunch meeting. I am excited to address a new group of teenagers and hope we have a big turn out. I have realized this is the best chance I have to get into the public schools and hope to be able to speak at Eastern and Manual as teens have requested. Teenagers are our future and we have to get them to realize the importance of the decisions they make today. However innocent those decisions may seem they can be destructive and teenagers need to be made aware that it can happen to them…just like it happened to Zack. He was athletic, popular, a good student who never gave us any trouble. He could be the poster boy for “this could never happen to me”. I am speaking now but wait until the day that Zack stands before his peers and gives his testimony. Remember 1st Corinthians 10:12 “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall”. Pray that God’s plan includes a speedy recovery so that Zack can influence many teenagers. But always pray for complete recovery.