Thanks Jenny for putting the pictures up on Caleb...he has the best nurses! Nice blog as well.
We are now seemingly going in a forward, positive, progressing pace. Caleb has a routine which we stick to very closely. Up and ready in the morn when I walk in about 7:30 or quarter till 8, he then walks to the sink, sits by himself and washes, uses ear cleaners, applies shaving lotion and shaves, washes hair, dresses himself after brushing teeth and is up and smelling grand for breakfast. I love this part of our day the most. Aside from me watching over him, this is the most normal section of time that we share. After that he is whisked away by various therapist and the day flies by.
I noticed a change in Leb yesterday and feel his meds will have to be checked. He is hallucinating a bit..seeing a sweatshirt on the floor which is not there, telling me he needs to shut the door where there is no door to shut-- things like that. This manipulation of the brain which they do here is tricky and requires some experimenting. I have no fear that his Doc will get it right. He is extremely competent.
The few visitors who have arrived over the past week have been a highlight for Caleb..it is a reminder of home and of better days ahead. At seven tonight I have a Reiki master working on Caleb, he is drinking re-live and has an appetite that can rival King Kong's. So in general, I think we are in great shape.
Not much more to report right now - Aunt Carol was going to Blog but had difficulty with my password...so I am the fill-in for today. Tomorrow India is Blog-master. India is one of those young women you can look at and instantly think she will be full of herself because she is soooo beautiful..and then much to your surprise and delight, she explodes with intelligence,charm and grace. She grew up in Fleet and has known Caleb for a very long time so we are all in for a treat. Friday is me again with the Leb update. Saturday is a look at Fleet through the eyes of Sky and Cedar's father, Chuck. Sunday I have asked Kai to Blog because he and Caleb share what seems to me sometimes to be one heart and he knows Caleb inside and out. They have different personalities but when it comes to understanding and compassion, laughter and love, they are cut out of the same fabric, pressed and ready to wear. Monday my dear friend Jodi will blog. Jodi was the key ingredient in putting together the most successful fund raising crew you could get and she worked her --- off for Caleb. Thank you all - what a line-up. Love, mumsie
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27 comments:
So good to hear about Caleb. Sharyn, I worry that some of the recent comments have chased you away or made you lose your enthusiasm for writing here. You deserve a break and I just wanted to 1) thank you for lining up such a thoughtful list of bloggers for us and 2) make sure you know how many of us will miss hearing from you. Your warmth, insights, and humor have given many of us something to hold on to. More than you know. So thank you so much for that. Much love to Caleb and you all.
with you all the way, Caleb!!
the Stows & the Kinder
Dear Sharyn,
I am so happy to hear the routine routine! It relieves me to know that EVERY day now is a forward move..I think a corner has been turned here!
Dear Caleb,
START DRUMMING! Left-right-left, then right-left-right..with emphasis on the first beat.. and remember the exercise we used to do in World Music (ie: make one finger go TOWARD you in a circle, and one go AWAY from you at the same time)? I betcha bud, that those would be good to do! (It is actually pretty hard for a lot of folks..so keep trying!)Anyway Caleb.. I am thinking of you every day, and I love you, kid. lisa
Sharyn,
First of all let me say what a brave woman you are for letting all of us "strangers" into your private world. I have a history with Wellfleet, I learned to walk on Samoset Rd in 1970!I have made it back to my "home away from home" almost every year since then. I am a single mother with a wonderful 9 year old boy. He has been to Wellfleet every year of his life(including the trip I made in January of 1998 where I was standing in Chipman's cove in my bare feet, 4 months pregnant, desparately trying to save a dolphin!)I was in Wellfleet with my Mom & son shortly after Caleb's accident. My son was so intrigued with Caleb (a fellow skateboarder!) that we had to ask what happened & how he was doing. We were in the Wellfleet market & there were all of the donation boxes at the cash registers & I watched as Elijah took his only $5 and put it in the box. I almost cried!! He told me that he wanted to help Caleb's Mom because she would run out money & she would be sad. We spent our whole trip thinking of Caleb, trying to get information. I have been on the blog everyday since we came home.
My son would love to send Caleb a picture. Where would be the best place to send something.
You are a very inspiring woman & your boys are awesome! I can't wait to see all of you around town next summer! Caleb needs to get back to Wellfleet, to what is in my opinion "heaven on earth"
All the best
Charlotte & Elijah
Toronto, Canada
Charlotte- thank you for your post. Wow, I am always so touched by people's outpouring of love but especially so with the kids (like the young boys who did the lemonade stand!). We are in good shape with kids like this coming along. :-)
It is an anticipating line up, but dont forget that you are part of it as well. It is you, Sharyn, that have kept us all enthralled and informed up until now, and you that we feel closest to, so keep in touch. There are so many of us that have never even met you, that have seen into your soul at your lowest and highest points, and we miss you. Ali Manchester UK
Sharyn I hope you are ok, you sound tired which is totally understandable.
I like so many others anxiously wait for your post. Not that the others aren't great, but you my dear are the queen of the blog. Queen Mumsie!
Thank you for the update, and keep the faith
J
Hey Hott Thang..
I reeeaaallly look forward to the guest bloggers, but as well love reading your words, as you have such great insight, and a gentleness behind your ways of Sharyn Sharing (something you have been great as since I have known you!) It is good you are there to clue into the things Caleb needs to work on, as you know him best. I pray Caleb encounters the best way to heal.. I love you mucho Mumsie!!! Xo.. Clance
Good to hear the progress - and great that you're there daily to notice the little things that might easily escape a busy nurse/doc/therapist (i.e. hallucinating). That's important info for his team. You're vital to the amazing progress he's made. Tell Aunt Carol to give it another go - we'd love to hear from her, too!
Thanks for the wonderful update, Sharyn, and I am very excited to hear from the guest bloggers. Even though I know the bloggers very well, it is still great to hear everyone's CALEB stories, and points of view. India should be interesting...you said it right about the person that she is...compassionate, giving and caring, and so, so much more. India is magnificent. And as far as the other bloggers; Chuck is one-of-a-kind. He is a genuine, caring person. Very nice, and easy going. And, Jodi...Also, another GREAT human being. I worked under Jodi for the fund-raisers, and she did an outstanding job. She was a great leader, and lent her home out to us for all the donations. We are all greatful to her.
Well anyway...Enough butt kissing...hehehe. NO, I just know and love and respect all these individuals. They are all part of the true heart of Wellfleet.
Glad to here all is well in your World, Miss.Sharyn. See you soon!
Love Ya,
~Nicole Miner
I vote that Nicole Miner should be a guest blogger in the future! Are you up to it?
Charlotte, If I'm not mistaken you stayed with us that wintery visit. Small world but caring indeed. Ripples on the water started by one terrible accident! No one following this really knows how far those ripples go. Peace to all. We are all so different but really the same...wanting everything to be alright. Sharyn, keep that loving eye on things. You are doing a good job. Only you know Caleb well enough.
I also look forward to the guest bloggers and love to read their words....each one is so individual, but the one common golden thread that shines through is their absolute love for Caleb. I am so tickled to hear that there is a routine of healing and therapy...Gives me goosebumps of happyness and makes me giggle like a little girl to look at those pictures that jennie posted yesterday. YIPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
And Shannon is like a high pitched ping pong ball lately, chatting about how well caleb is doing and such!!! Much love to you all....and I put a vote in for Mrs.Miner (or the Coal Miner's Daughter, as uncle mike likes to call her!) to be a guest blogger!!! amystj
Hi Sharyn, Hi Caleb,
Love From Wellfleet.
I hadn't checked the blog in a few days and was thrilled to hear all the wonderful things and to see Caleb again was amazing! It brought a frog to my throat and tears to my eyes. I am so happy. Thank you, Caleb, for being strong and working hard, working towards coming home. I love you so much and CAN NOT WAIT to see you, especially in your natural habitat. I send you love from wellfleet as well as some of that dank imported canadian love. kisses kissess hug hug shannon
Can I put in votes for Nicole please....? Love
Sharyn says "going in a forward, positive, progressive pace"...ah music to my ears. Sharyn, this is such great news and we must all celebrate the forward motion. I first your blog early this morning, and thought, boy Sharyn doesn't quite sound like herself, although it's nice to read the guest blogger comments, I hope that it hasn't become more of a burden for you to manage than a relief. You sound low??or tired?? I hope that you are ok, and find some time to take care of yourself along with your amazing boy. Perhaps the Reiki master can work on you tonight as well. Seeing the photo of Caleb reading the paper and talking to Kai really warmed my heart...thank god for all miracles, great and small.
Audrey
What *awesome progress*! If you doubt that for a minute... allow me to quote from your (Sharyn's) blog entry of September 13th - just four weeks ago:
"Caleb moans and groans, is uncomfortable most hours of the day, is forced to wake just when he has gotten to sleep and is a sunken a shriveled example of his robust and healthy former self."
FOUR WEEKS! And look where he is now! This is so, so great. I'm happy for Caleb and for all of you.
Caleb, keep up the great work!
Jerry G
Dear Sharyn, Caleb and friends, neighbors -- as you comfort and inspire each other, we visitors bask in your outpouring reassurances of our humanity. As someone in these comments pages observed recently, maybe we're really only 2 degrees of separation from each other! We share a huge human heart.
I am a mother of two semi-grown boys (17 & 20) from California; we three were happily hanging out in Wellfleet and the Seashore last July, though were shortly overcome with curiosity over just who was the flesh-and-blood person behind the mysterious, ubiquitous "Pray for Caleb" signs.
I quickly learned that your son is -- actually, all three of them are -- so much like mine; it, the accident, could so easily have been either of mine. Snapshots of Wellfleet from this blog became intermingled with ours, from our visit -- we all might have belonged together, except for being strangers from opposite coasts! And as others have expressed, we are not really strangers of the heart, just by circumstance.
Sharyn, I see and feel your great strength through your vivid, human-scale writing, even in your sometimes great fatigue and invariable sense of wonder!
Caleb, I can see and hear your exuberance for life in every picture, and in the thousands of words sung by your friends and loved ones. I have been here and there, at work, on the road or at home, drawing comfort and inspiration like water, like oxygen, these several months, particularly in challenging moments of mothering late-stage adolescents. And I am a working professional in healthcare, so this is all deeply felt within my working heart, too.
I have a poem to share with you all, to answer the doubters and the prickly ones, since we know they will always, always be among us. Sometimes, even, they ARE us. No matter:
Mother Teresa hung a copy of this poem on a wall of the orphanage she founded in Calcutta. Its source is unknown.
People are often unreasonable,
illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind,
People may accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be Kind anyway.
If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and
some true enemies;
Succeed anyway. people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway
If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis.
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them, anyway.
Love from Robin & these cherished, rough-and-ready boys of mine, in Northern California
Sharyn,
After reading the blog this evening this word jumped out in my mind - Fortitude. So I looked it up under Merriam-Webster's online dictionary... Fortitude: strength of mind that enables a person to encounter danger or bear pain or adversity with courage. Sharyn, maybe you haven't felt so courageous at times but I think the definition speaks accurately to what you have done and shown so extremely well here... Now apples don't fall far from the trees they say and Mr.Caleb fits the definition like a glove himself...
Speaking of Caleb, I think I may have taken some of those hallucinatory drugs myself! I bought a lottery ticket that I swore was a winner! Damn if it wasn't just a worthless piece of paper!
Keep the great news coming!
Kevin
Dear Sharyn:
I must say I agree with your dear friend Kevin in using the word fortitude to describe you and your ability to handle this situation...I only know you through your wonderful words that you tirelessy posted each day...and I think its a good think that a little normacly is coming your way by means of routines and daily rituals that we all take for granted...You have provided more strength to so many people who you may never meet through this blog and I truly believe things happen for a reason and the fact you were able to turn a horrible situation into something positive says so much about you and your family...peace to you and may each day bring you closer to your home...
OMGoodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your "tightness" in a community is UNREAL. Sharyn - keep up the strength! Kevin's blog was amazing and so visual in it's own way! GOOOOOOO Caleb! Gosh, with my son tucked in bed and doing my usual every am and pm checking in I wish that I could somehow give you more hugs and strength....XO
We have lost the visiting hours post, so could you please give visiting information again? Keep up the good work Caleb.
caleb - rock on dude! you, too Sharyn!
I kind of keep to myself. I don’t call often enough or write enough; I just carry people around with me, tucked in my heart. So, it was of no surprise this summer when my mom, in Harwich, mentioned Caleb that I had no idea what had happened. “Do you know Caleb?” she asked. “His name sounds familiar, but I can’t picture his face…. I don’t know,” I said. I got in touch with a friend back east who told me about the blog – it took me less than a second to recognize Caleb. But, I don’t really know Caleb. And yet I read about him, beautiful entries from Sharyn and other folks, some strangers and some people that I have not seen in years.
I was always one of those kids that couldn’t really appreciate the Cape. (I am now learning maybe it is because I didn’t grow up in Wellfleet.) I was anxious to leave this sandstrip; the ocean made me feel stuck on land. At 18 I took a Greyhound bus to California and roamed around until I settled in the mountains of Arizona. Where I admit: I sleep outside most nights, have a beat up truck, have more than one pair of cowboy boots and I kind of think tight, high-waisted Wranglers are sexy. I think I fell in love with the desert.
But after some unexpected decisions this Fall I found myself loading up my truck and boots and headed home to Cape Cod - 2,700 miles without a car stereo gave me a lot of time for thinking. There were many times in those 4 days driving that I found I was carrying Caleb. Staring out at the landscapes of Oklahoma and Arkansas – that endless stretch through Tennessee – there were moments where my entire being existed only as a prayer for his good health.
But it wasn’t just Caleb and it wasn’t only those 4 days – ever since I spoke with my mom, found the blog – I am carrying you all with me, even those who I have never met and do not know.
Although my great grandparents, grandparents and parents came from here, families of carpenters and fishermen; and my oldest brother has the tattoo LOCAL in huge, capital letters down his forearm; and I still know the back roads after 10 years of elsewhere – I never quite feel at home when I am on the Cape. I feel like the person who walks into a restaurant and then realizes (and only then) that her t-shirt is ripped and her pits unshaven and it definitely wasn’t a “shower day”. But last weekend I was headed through Wellfleet and as I passed downtown I realized one noticeable thing – in Wellfleet no one makes you feel bad about your beat up Toyota or worn out jeans – because people are real there. And knowing this and knowing that Caleb has all of you real and beautiful beings carrying him with you and that, in turn, we are all carrying each other – it makes me feel good about Wellfleet, and better about being home, but those details are not what truly matters. What is of most importance is that you all make me believe more in the possibility and capacity we each have for kindness and love and earnest caring. So thank you Sharyn for your words and Caleb for your strength and all you beautiful folks – wherever your hometown may be at the moment – thank you for all that you inspire.
I carry you with me,
Sarah Monteiro
(sorry if this is stuck in here twice - it is my first blogging experience)
This has been such a truly transforming experience for all of us who visit this page. A lesson in faith, courage, perseverance,love, and the power of community to work for the good of others. I am constantly struck by the common thread that runs through this complicated tapestry: the desire to help and the deep concern for people we know, people we have never met. This is such an affirmation of the way to peace and unity the world over; the light of all of this love should shine down on this earth and heal all ills. As my Grampa always said: 'every day above ground is a good day'.....and this blog should be an lesson to all of us to hold love close to our hearts and to share it with all who cross our paths.
Good job, Sharyn, Caleb, et al.
With hope , as always,
peg form PA
Hi Caleb and Sharyn, it's Grace. There's nothing better right now than to see caleb's handsome smile. Thanks jenni for the pics! i left you a voicemail sharyn, hoping i can visit sometime soon. The daily tasks must be difficult but keep your focus on where it will take you...home at last! love you.
Ohhhh such beautiful words and thoughts and prayers - Sarah Monteiro, Peg from PA, Charlotte, Ali, and everyone else who shares here. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You all give us hope and strength. May you all be happy. Sharyn and Caleb and family, you've inspired this beautiful community. Rejoice in it.
With gratitude and love,
Joan
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