The Agenda

I figure my trip to visit Rachael took about three weeks of advance preparation.This was all about getting Sam situated and keeping his routine as close to "normal" as possible. 

In the weeks leading up, it started with teaching Sam how to use an alarm clock (as opposed to me waking him up). This was met with wildly varying degrees of success. The biggest problem was him remembering to turn it on. (We worked on it.)

It also meant identifying and modifying his weekend routine in a way that worked for him (and Helaina- who devoted much of her weekend daytime hours to taking over my role) - and getting it all down on paper so he (and Helaina) knew what to expect.

It meant practicing how to pay at the grocery store for when he gets his usual Saturday lunchtime slice of pizza.

It meant making meals for and with Sam in advance, and portioning the food out so he could see it and make sure he was comfortable with the amount and know that it was all ready to go... and then label it and make sure it was accessible so he knew where to find it and then go over with him how to heat it up. 

It meant arranging and portioning out his typical after-shower nighttime snacks - especially his one-time-a-week Saturday evening snack of the all-important ice cream (which he hasn't mastered scooping out yet, thus some hidden Eskimo Pies, bought ahead of time for this occasion).

It meant arranging his transportation to and from work on Monday. Helaina kindly brought him to work and I arranged with one of his support agencies to ensure that Sam's 'companion' (or a backup) would be available to walk him home.

This covered pretty much all the bases...I hoped... but I knew it left his evenings open. 

So when I was away, I called at what should be his dinnertime to remind him to eat ("Oh yeah!") and called him again a little later on to remind him to go upstairs right then while I was on the phone to turn on his alarm ("Oh yeah!"). 

All that left was to cover him up at bedtime - a 'tradition' I normally do for him. This was something I couldn't do over the phone. But he made out fine. (He told me later that he managed to do it himself.)

So, it was all worth it and it all worked out... for both of us.

Posted on the refrigerator.