If you ask Mike what his plans are, he’ll tell you that he’s decided to be an astrophysicist. He’ll tell you that you need a PHD to be the type of astrophysicist that gets to do research in space. The motivation…the possibility of a future flight in space.  If you know Mike, you are probably not surprised because Mike has always had big dreams, huge aspirations.  The accident may have battered his brain but it didn’t squash the dreamer in him.  It began as a conversation about what he should do when he is ready or able to return to work.  A return to IT? A return to recruiting?  I suggested that maybe he leave the door open to other possibilities…offering that the new brain may be better suited for a different line of work.  There were many career paths that crossed my mind, none of which included becoming an astrophysicist. Mike did a little research on his own one day, found the educational requirements to make it happen and then re-opened the search for universities on-line.  An afternoon on the Internet and he now has three colleges selected with print outs that include the requirements for students with disabilities. He is facing that too.

Gray matter represents information processing centers in the brain.  Gray is my new favorite color.  I try to live my life without the stark contrast of black and white, it seems to be too bipolar.  Too rigid.  Too far left, too far right.  I try to live the truth, in the light but it usually falls somewhere in between.  That place between black and white is gray.  There is a gray area between faith and reality.  Between encouragement to believe that all things are possible and the harsh reality of what we believe is the truth.  

How do we get from where we are today to a flight in space?  One day at a time. One foot in front of the other.  I gave Michael a book yesterday with a goal oriented task attached.  “If you plan to attend college again you must show that you can learn and retain new information”. Our first attempt with this exercise began last week with a book from Nate, Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time - read 5 pages a day, take notes and then try to remember that information after reading the next 5 pages the following day…tooooo much! Whoa!

The most significant hurdle to learning after brain injury is memory loss and impairment. Michael’s capacity to receive, store and retrieve information has been effected. Short-term memory, recalling what happened yesterday is still tough but getting better. He may remember and retain old skills, but how will he be at learning new ones? I believe with repeated instructions and practice he can do anything.

The new book is The Intellectual Devotional. Each day of the week devoted to a different field of knowledge. Monday - History, Tuesday - Literature, Wednesday - Visual Arts, Thursday -Science, Friday - Music, Saturday - Philosophy and Sunday - Religion. The book begins on a Monday but we cheated and read Monday’s last night. He read it, closed the book and then summarized it for me. This morning before he saw the book, I asked him if he remembered what he read last night. Without hesitation he said ” I read in the daily devotional about the alphabet. About how the Egyptians created the alphabet because their prisoner slaves couldn’t read hieroglyphics…and something about Rosetta Stone in 1799. I don’t remember what that was about though. That the letter b is the word for house”. I stood in awe but questioned the letter “b” recall, I read the page last night also and I didn’t remember anything about the letter b. He responded “it was at the bottom of the page in italics”. I looked, yes it was. I didn’t read that part.

One page at a time, one foot in front of the other…he can do this. Mike says “I got nothing but time.”

xxoo

 Happy Birthday Grandma Vee - Happy Birthday Parker!