Homeward

Rosi and I are doing a little packing here in Conroe. Michael is due to be discharged tomorrow from Touchstone. We have tickets for wednesday afternoon on America's favorite airline, Southwest, to fly home.

Michael has been spending a good deal of time with us at the apartment. We wanted to see how he would do out of the facility and he has been fine. We took him yesterday to Red Lobster to eat. When he was small we used to take him out of school one day towards the end of the year and declare it "Michael Sluder day". It usually involved a movie or something like that and eating the feast at red lobster. It was his favorite. My boys have never minded orderering steak or lobster as long as pops is paying.

I also took Michael to a golf driving range yesterday, kinda as a test to see if he remembered how to hit a ball. We used to play together some. At first he watched me and didn't want to, but I gave him a club and told him to give it a try. I didn't say a word, and he took the club and hit the ball just like he used to! He grasped the club the same and proceeded to put it way out there. The range had targets and on his last shot he aimed for the 100 yd target and hit it! He was very exhuberant and wanted to quit on that one. We were only there for 20 minutes but he did great.

Wednesday is a day we have looked forward to for awhile. We are hopeful, but we also realize it means a lot of work ahead for our family. We are thankful to have family and friends that have stepped up for Michael and us. Over the next few months, I hope the house is full of Michaels friends that will spend the time with him that he needs. He is fun and needs folks his age to do all the stuff you do for fun and learning. He may not know you at first but he can learn. He knows most of the folks in his facility because they spend time with him. That is the key.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know we are headed to Nashville.

Pops