Day 1
For the first time in a while, I am my own transportation. Well, almost. In my little corner of Texas, there’s one rental car company. One. They’re very nice and have always provided me with a clean vehicle in good working order. It is almost never the one, or even the style, I reserved, but they have a vehicle for me every time. It’s kinda like betting on a horse you know is gonna come in near the top of the finishers, but you don’t get to look at it first or even get to know anything about it. It’s like opening presents Christmas morning without having even picked one up, much less shaken it or taken measure of it in any way. And, true to form, I get a nice, clean car that’s in good working order, but not even remotely resembling anything I might have requested.
Driving to Austin from Nacogdoches, there’s an almost required stop along the way. I’ve written about Buccee’s before, and I will say that if you’ve never been to one, you should go once. Just for the experience. How do I describe it?vHave you ever kicked an ant hill, and then stood in line behind every single one of them to use the restroom? Or imagine being in the middle of a stampeding herd of really rude wildebeest who, despite all going in different directions at once, need to be in the exact spot on the planet in which you’re standing in order to gain access to the wall of jerky. I’m beginning to wonder if the jerky is really worth it. Even for gas, and this one has 100 pumps, I’ve never not waited in line behind someone else from the ant hill just to get gas. With 100 pumps to choose from!
Day 2
I’m here for three different clients. Number one is technically just a visit to determine if our orientation and mobility (O&M) program would be of benefit. I mean, come on! I’m a certified orientation and mobility instructor, of course O&M is gonna be beneficial! Number two is a follow-up for a client who’s recently been on campus but needs some help at some very specific intersections. Number three is another client who had been on campus and didn’t get to finish training.
The clients are in south Austin, mid-town Austin, and north Austin, respectively, so I’ve found a hotel near the airport, using as much of geometry as I ever have in my life. I’m also using the toll roads around town because I-35, the interstate running north/south through the middle of town, is ALWAYS a parking lot. My father would not approve of my use of the tollways. He paid his taxes, dadgummit! Why should he have to pay extra to drive on public roads? Nevertheless, and despite paying my taxes, I’m using the tolls roads. Sorry Dad.
I got the first visit done and, due to circumstances out of my control, I will have an unplanned non-teaching day. I plan on using it to catch up on paperwork. I know, really adventurous, but it’s a rarity to be out on the road and not be going somewhere and doing something for most of the day. Every day I’m out, I’m gonna soak it up.
Day 4
Keep up with me. I skipped day three because who wants to read a blog about me blogging? I also called a lot of clients and worked on the ever-present expense report. Riveting stuff.
I went to see Sheryl, who happens to be married to Paul, who was the first home delivery O&M client I had back in ’22. After spending a little time reacquainting myself to her, we set out on our first route. You’ll see in the photos that Sheryl is using a support cane in one hand and her mobility cane in the other. She’s got bad knees, for which she’s done a lot of physical therapy, but is still in need of a little extra stability.
This is an important point. I can teach the most technical skills at the most complex intersections, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t remain upright. All the skill and practice in the world won’t matter if you can only focus on not falling down. I’ve preached in this blog, multiple times, about how holding your head up helps you keep your balance, and it does. However, if you have other physical issues that affect your balance, you need to do whatever you need to do in order to remedy that. Does it slow you down? Yup. Does it take a little more concentration and/or coordination? Yup. Is it worth it? Absolutely. I’m not worried about fast. What I’m concerned about is my clients getting to and from their destinations as safely and efficiently as possible. So, if you need help in figuring out what options you have for moving safely AND keeping your balance, call someone on the O&M team at Leader and seek some advice.
Sheryl and I finished, and I had a lovely very late lunch at Matt’s El Rancho, an Austin staple for excellent Tex-Mex. The carne guisada was especially good today.
Day 5
Sheryl has lightened her backpack to just the essentials (homework from her instructor) and she’s ready to roll today. She and Paul do their shopping at the local H.E.B. (a Texas grocery store chain that rivals my great love for Publix in the southeast areas of our lovely country.)
Like most large grocery stores these days, this H.E.B. anchors many smaller businesses around it, connected by a maze of sidewalks, driveways, and evil, evil parking lots. Sheryl has an interest in locating several of these businesses and I am interested in having her get lots of practice using both her canes at the same time. Sounds like it was meant to be, huh?
So, it’s all parking lots and driveways for over half of our working day. Kinda tedious, but really good practice and LOTS of opportunities for Sheryl to get better.
We take a break for a sandwich at Schlotzky’s (another Austin original). Paul meets us there, and that gives us an excuse to stay in the air conditioning just a little longer. Paul has decided to stay with us for the afternoon because we’re going to orient Sheryl to the inside of H.E.B., as they’ve remodeled since she’s been in.
I quickly realized that working with a husband and wife at the same time is a losing proposition. For everyone involved. I finally had to tell Paul to just go on ahead. He’s a good enough traveler to do this on his own, and he’s not my client right now, Sheryl is. (Paul really is a wonderful cane traveler. It’s really fun to watch, if you like that sort of thing!) Anyway, the route back to the parking spot is a little easier because it’s ground we already covered, and a little harder because it’s gotten hotter while we were lounging at lunch.
We get inside the grocery store and we… well, you’ve all heard this before. We broke the store up into smaller parts, learned the parts, then put all the parts together. That’s one good way of orienting to a new area. The bigger the area, the better this works.
I have also planned my meals for the rest of the week. I could (and will) literally eat at H.E.B. every night I’m here, just out of their fresh food section. They make a fabulous cranberry pecan chicken salad, an excellent rotisserie chicken, and a really nice poke bowl.vI’m set.
Eating out every night sounds luxurious, until you actually do it. It gets old quick. Sometimes it’s nice to go back to the hotel and just eat in silence, or with a good book playing. I even brought a real book with me this time, since I didn’t have to worry about space. Well, I always take a real book with me, but this one’s bigger than I choose to carry in my EDC (every day carry) bag. There’s books, then there’s waiting-in-airport books. I call them bag books, or EDC books. Paperback is a must, and right at 7X10.vBigger than that, or a hardback, and it’s a nightstand book for me.
Day 6
We got down to the nitty gritty today. One of the main reasons that I’m here is to help Sheryl determine if she can use her hearing with enough accuracy to cross streets. She has no vision after having her last working eye enucleated (removed), and she’s not tried to determine safe crossings without at least some vision and/or Paul being with her.
We hit 3 different intersections today and Sheryl was at about 60% correct. (For someone who’s not good at math, I’m mathing a lot in this blog. I used geometry to locate a geographically sensible hotel, and now I’m using percentages.vMy cousin Kristi will be so proud!) You can check my figures on this, but 60% correct on determining a safe crossing is 40% incorrect and folks, that ain’t good enough. Guessing doesn’t get you across the street safely. Hope is not a good street-crossing tactic.
I had a client, years ago, who was losing her hearing at a fairly rapid rate. She was already totally blind but was still crossing streets with her hearing. Upon losing more and more, she asked me to evaluate her effectiveness in choosing the correct time to cross. It was a long time ago, so I don’t remember exactly, but it wasn’t good. Long story short, she wasn’t happy with the outcome and told me that she’d just wave her cane about (a technique we call flagging) and just cross. God would protect her. I believe in miracles just as much as any other God-fearing person does, but I also don’t believe that we should willingly put ourselves in positions where miracle is needed to get us out of trouble.
All that to say, I had to share bad news with Sheryl, who knew it was coming. She’s known for a while and, as you might imagine, it’s not great to hear. She’s been visually impaired her whole life, but she got used to that. She recently lost that remaining vision and she’s basically gotten used to that. Now, she’s lost enough hearing so that she can’t independently cross a street. It will take her a while, but I’ll bet she gets used to this as well, but there’s nothing easy about it. It was a successful day in that we did what we’d set out to do, but it was not a fun day. At least I’m gonna end it with a nice chicken salad sandwich…
Day 7
Paul and Sheryl host a support group at their church once a month. Sometimes it’s a Bible study, sometimes it’s information-sharing, sometimes just fellowship. Paul asked me yesterday to say a few words about what Sheryl and I were doing this week, and to feel free to put in a plug for the services offered by Leader.
Sheryl and I used our time before the meeting started by orienting her to her church and the grounds. She’s especially interested in going to the front for communion on her own, which I totally understand. We spend a lot of time practicing this route from her usual seat, up the steps to the rail, then kneeling for communion, then back down the steps to her seat. I’m not Lutheran and I didn’t use all the correct terminology, but you get the idea. She did well and is looking forward to the next communion. I don’t know if Lutherans have communion every week, but she’ll be ready whenever it happens next.
I speak for just a few moments at the meeting about Leader Dog and answer a ton of questions. Looks like I was there at the right time. Unfortunately, Paul was unable to download his Bible study, so Revelations 21 will remain a mystery to me until next time. After lunch (quite possibly the largest hamburger I’ve seen), Sheryl and I head to the hospital where she has the majority of her appointments to see if we can’t help her become just a little more oriented.
No easy travel here, either. They’re doing construction, and the areas in which they aren’t working are set up with temporary structures to accommodate for the construction. It’s an ugly route, but she knows it better than she did before we started. I’ll take that.
Day 8
Because I expected Saturday would end up being a full day and that I would be hot, tired, and sweaty by the end of that day, I planned another night in the hotel so I could get clean, cool, and well-rested before my drive home. What I did not expect was to become the kind of violently ill that only poorly raised barbarians would wish upon each other. Definitely not the kind of ill you want to be in a hotel room or anywhere away from home. But there I was. I won’t share any details except for the fact that my dinner plans for Saturday evening changed from my planned H.E.B. finale for ginger ale and that chalky pink liquid we all know and love. Ugh. Needless to say, I did not have a restful night, and I used every millisecond of “late checkout” that was humanly possible.
I also did not plan to stop at Buccee’s in Madisonville, but clean facilities was foremost on my mind at the time. I did have a moment of lucidity and remembered to buy my son the cinnamon roll that he really likes from the bakery.vIt’s about a bajillion calorie and is as big as my head, but he loves them, and I try to bring him one whenever I pass a Buccee’s. They also have Canada Dry ginger ale on tap and, like everything else at Buccee’s, you can get a quintuple-extra-large-sized serving, which my stomach really needed by that stage of the trip.
Tomorrow is Memorial Day, and I’m so thankful for a day off to recover. I would have taken the day off had it not been a holiday. “Holiday” is a weird word for Memorial Day, considering what it was designed for: to pause; to remember and be thankful for those service men and women who lost their lives in the service of our great country. Members of the United States Military who don’t get to have the day off so I could. My worst day doesn’t even compare. I’m forever grateful for their sacrifice.