Tuesday October 18, 2005

Tuesday October 18, 2005 Zack was up at 7:00 to eat breakfast and shower. He gets dressed and then when I tell him he needs to shave he asked, “How do I do that again”. He goes to the bathroom and once I get the shaving cream and razor out he remembers what to do. As we drive to Frazier East he turns on the radio and searches for his music. Some half rap song comes on and he asked me if I like it. Not really I tell him and he says, “You should, it’s a really good song”. We talk about our plans for after therapy today and I remind him we are going to see Andrew in the CAL Regional Soccer tournament. Then he remembers that they didn’t come to our house after Ping Pong and wants to call Andrew. Of course since it is nearly 8:30 Andrew is in class so he leaves him a message. I chuckled to myself as he told Andrew he was in trouble for not coming over but he would still be at his soccer game. It is a pretty day and Zack says he hopes they go outside again for therapy. I walk him in and kiss him goodbye. When I pick him up today he is in a much better mood than yesterday. I asked him what he did in therapy and he can’t remember but he says he knows they didn’t go outside. I tell him to get his binder out (where he keeps his schedule and log of his activities) and read what he wrote. He starts to read and then struggles over his own hand writing. He gives up, closes his binder, throws it on the floorboard of the car and smiles as he says, “I hate that thing”. I tell him it is so good that he doesn’t get frustrated over things because if he did it would be a lot harder. He looks at the cars driving by and tells me that he needs to get his license. I remind him that he has to take a special course and can’t even start it until his occupational therapist writes a letter explaining that he is ready to drive. He remembers that we are suppose to be doing something special today and asked me what it was. I tell him we are going to the CAL soccer game but right now we have to go by school and pick up Dylan and the girls. He asked me if we would have enough time and wanted to know if he had time for a nap. He doesn’t want to be late for the soccer game and must have asked me 4 times in 10 minutes what time the game was at. He also asked me several times if he would see any of his people when we went to school to pick up the kids and I tell him we will go in and look for people. We park and walk down the sidewalk. The buses pass us by and all the kids run to the window and wave at Zack. I tease him and say he is a celebrity. He smiles and says, “All I know is I better see my people in here”. We walk in through the elementary doors and Zack looks around disgustedly and says, “I don’t know any of these people”. Then we walk down to the high school wing and several people say hello to him but he does not see who he is looking for. As we enter the hallway to the gym we see the JV cheerleaders and I tell him he will definitely know some of those girls. He smiles and waves. We go through the gym and see Brooke practicing with the Varsity girl’s basketball team. He says, “I know that girl”. The Varsity cheerleaders are on the Mezzanine and they shout out his name. Zack says, “I want to go up there”. Several of the girls meet us at the top of the steps and he talks with them a while. Then I tell him I bet he will know people in the weight room. The room is full with the football team working out. Several guys come up to him and shake his hand. He tells each one, “Hey buddy, what’s up”. Someone asked him if he knew their name and he shakes his head and says, “I don’t remember a lot of things”. Someone must have asked him why because he looked at me and asked, “What happened to me again”. I remind him he was in a car accident and he just looks at them, grins and shakes his head. Mr. Stafford comes to shake his hand and Zack calls him buddy too. I tell them since Zack has a hard time remembering names he just calls everybody buddy. It’s safe and it works, most people don’t even catch on. We tell everybody goodbye and walk to the cafeteria to pick up the girls. Once at home Zack heads downstairs for a nap and I head to the office to open mail (those dreaded bills). When I finally wake Zack for dinner it is after 5:00 and he is very concerned that we will be late for the soccer game. We drop the kids off at the skating party and head for Ballard High School. Several people who haven’t seen Zack since before his accident are at the game and they are all amazed at how well he is doing. He watches the game and shouts out to Andrew. After the game we go to Fridays for a bite to eat with Andrew, Taylor and Brooke. Brooke’s Mom joins us later and Zack asked Brooke, “Who is that again?” (Of course it’s the lady who was cutting my bushes last night). Lauren and Abby show up and ask Andrew about his soccer game. Zack looks at Andrew and said, “You played soccer today?” I tell him we just left Andrews soccer game and he smiles and says, “Yeah and you all got beat bad” (which they had, 7 to 0). We head home and Zack tells me he is tired and wants to go to bed. I tell him he talked to several people on the phone and told them to come over so he couldn’t go to bed. He lays his head back in the car and says, “I wish I wouldn’t have done that because I am really tired”. Shortly after we get home Tiffany and Brittany arrive. Zack visits with them in the living room. He asked me, “Who was that girl I told you I wanted to go out with?” I smile to myself. My teenage son needs me and I have an opportunity to mold his social life. What parent wouldn’t want to be in that position? After a short time he looks at his friends and says, “Don’t you all need to study for something?” His polite way of telling them they needed to leave because he was tired. He walks them to the door and gives them each a hug goodbye. He was asleep before they reached the entrance to our subdivision. I am happy and satisfied that Zack is well on the road to recovery. I pray that he will always be able to laugh at his little mistakes instead of getting frustrated (just as long as he is aware that he is making mistakes and tries to correct them). I have received so many emails recently about how his accident has changed lives. I am still getting comments about my speech at Chapel. My mission is to tell other teenagers how innocent choices can change their lives forever, how God gave them parents as authority over them to help them make good choices and how prayer can heal. Every time I hear of one of Zack’s friends having an accident or getting in trouble for doing something stupid, I feel a sense of urgency to get my message out. Sometimes I think it needs to be beat over their head but maybe a few eye opening pictures of Zack lying in a hospital bed with a shaved head and tubes coming out of him will do the trick. Any church that wants me to speak to their youth group need only to ask. One day I hope Zack is the one addressing them but until then God won’t let me be silent. Please continue to pray for complete healing. Pray that Zack maintains his sense of humor through this recovery process and that he continues to amaze his doctors. There is only one explanation, one factor that is not considered in recovery…the power of prayer and the mercy of our awesome God!