Speech Therapy

Dear Jan,

Today speech therapy was intense. I asked you to describe it for me. You said you had to match pictures to concepts and then tell a story about each one. You found this to be hard work but enjoyed it a lot. Your language is expanding, everyone notices it, so this type of therapy seems to be working with you. It seems there is a good connection between the SLT team and you. You yourself commented on the progress you are making.

Other highlights of the day were:

Your concentration is expanding, but sometimes one needs to repeat the idea twice for you to understand it. This made me of the importance of nor assuming that you understand 100% of what we say without checking with you if you got all the ideas.

Later in the day, you struggled with fatigue. Even though you can keep going for longer periods, your energy is depleted after five or six hours.

In the evening we watched "Pay it Forward" Your comments were very insightful. At times I could not understand all the words in the dialogue, you would then fill in and repeat all the words... amazing! You made a comment of how we continue to write modern parables to remind ourselves of the sacrificial nature of love and how it always results in some form of redemption. You said that little actions can change the world...

I took a little action before you went to sleep: I told you that I love you, that you are very precious to me; that you have brought to my life far more than what I could ever give you. Thinking that, maybe, I don't say it enough.

Living with you this past six months (tomorrow it will be six months...) has been an intensive course on the basics of life. Everyday brings something new. I have confirmed that I am in this to learn how to live a life with more freedom and love. I remember V. Frankl idea that our freedom is the space between any circumstance in our lives and our reactions to it. Today, with your quiet actions you taught me how to live free. From an outsider's point of view anyone could say that we are going through a dark portion of our lives. From your point of view, pain and all, we are walking right in the middle of the light.

You also have taught me to look beyond the obvious. Somehow, I have learned to see you beyond the limitations imposed on you for now, as a matter of fact, it is now that I can clearly see the core of who you are, the real basis of what you believe. As you say: “You got, what you got, when you got it”.

You live absolutely free of regrets. You don't define your circumstances from a victim's point of view. You are certain about who is in control. Jesus said: "you will experience for yourselves the truth and the truth will free you [...] God intends something gloriously grand here and is making the decisions that will bring it about" (Jn 8:32,50). You know this truth and walk in this light. I am learning to embrace as well the freedom that comes from living the truth.

Thanks Jan.


-Fede