This week has been crazy, I love my co-op position but man I am tired!

He said

The big focus this week, was Emelia starting her Co-Op placement at Boys’ & Girls’ Club as part of her summer school. Her training began Tuesday at 9am and she has spent every day this week there working eight hour days. But the best part is she is absolutely loving it. After day one she came home with so many stories about the kids she is connecting with and it’s great to see her connect the dots with the career path she wants to follow after next year at Kings University College in the Childhood and Youth Studies program. As the week went on and she got more into her role she was more and more excited, to the point that she’s hopeful that this Co-Op program could build a connection for her to land a part time job there. A few of the employees there have had that experience so she is optimistic about that.

But, the downside to all of that is the rest of Emelia’s life did not stop because she was working in essence a full-time job. There was of course the two Cheer teams she is on which had practices. She also had shifts at Silver City. And then of course there is softball. But on top of all of that is her social life with her friends. By the time Thursday rolled around, her weekend schedule at Silver City had posted and we had an overwhelmed and stressed girl. Her Friday alone would mean a seventeen hour day basically going from Co-Op straight to her shift at the theatre. But, on top of all that she managed to catch the summer cold that Danielle has been fending off the better part of a week or more.

Thankfully, we were able to get some of her weekend load at the theatre sorted out (lightened up) and she was able to get some much needed recuperation in yesterday and today. We’re gonna force her to bed early tonight and ensure that she spends the rest of this day taking it easy. The good news is it seems she didn’t get near the version of the cold that Danielle did and might be on the upside of recovery. I am really hopeful that by next week this working a full-time job will feel a little more like routine and less like a shock to the system.

The other load on our system this week was that Mom has officially been accepted into assisted living at Glendale Crossing — a facility much more suited to serve Mom’s changing needs, which obviously changed drastically with Dad passing as he was able to assist her with a lot. So… it will mean a move for Mom and a lot of downsizing which if you ask us is long overdue , but in end with give Mom a lot better living conditions and possibly more opportunity to socialize. With me working most of the weekend, it meant Danielle, Shawn & Matthew carried the yeoman’s share of getting Mom sorted through her stuff. Surprisingly, she is very open to pairing down which has made this so much easier! Fingers crossed we should have her at Glendale on July 25th.

The last big event this week was today and that was our niece Abi’s birthday. It has been such a terrible year for our nieces and nephews—Greg’s kids. But, these moments that we get back together and celebrate it like he would have wanted it to happen, make us all heal & feel a little more close to him and further from the loss we recognize. We met up at Springbank Park and played with the girls and laughed with the family. Testza’s Dad and partner were there, Shawn & Matthew, of course us, and then all of Greg’s amazing family. We spent a few hours together eating laughing and doing this birthday right—just the way Greg would have wanted. Judging by the smiles and laughter, I’d say we did a great job!

She said

As John has pointed out it have been one crazy week. It would have been a lot just with trying to find a new home and start packing Helen, it would have been a lot with a huge international conference at work that is going to be a lot of long and wonky hours, it would have been a lot with Emelia starting a Co-Op after just finishing her final exam and going right into the long weekend working the entire weekend, it would have been a lot that I got really sick this week. Well you get the idea—this week was crazy.

Last weekend I started to feel like crap, so bad that I pulled out a covid test because it was hitting me that hard. I was full knocked on my ass sick for almost a week, finally getting back to in person work on Friday after being either home sick or working from home the rest of the week. I am all but over whatever that was but man it was a doozy. In the middle of being sick I was able to coordinate a few things to get things in place for Helen and what will be her new home. On Thursday Helen had the medical assessment done but her new home and they have assessed what her medical needs are and she has been approved to move into Glendale for their assisted living. What this allows all of us is the comfort to know she finally has the adequate care to meet her current needs while still allowing her to be connected with a community and she can be part of the events at Glendale. We are so far very impressed by all of the staff and amendities.

With a date now in place and a new home chosen the big work is downsizing Helen out of her 2 bedroom apartment to a tiny one room studio. When we moved Helen and Doug to the retirement home in 2020 she was pretty set on taking far more than the family felt she should. She had far too much and over the last 4 years has an incredible amount of surplus supplies and clothes. The apartment is pretty packed and we are moving her to a place that is a 3rd the size of her place. We were all nervous what this next move was going to look like but when I went over yesterday she was eager to purge and purge she has. We have managed to go through all her clothing and she is down more than half of what we started with. Matthew, Shawn and I over the next 7 hours go through all her clothing, most of Doug’s personal items and made a huge dent in one day. John and I went over today and took care of more but there is still so much more to do.

And now to Emelia. To say we are blown away with what Emelia has balanced this year. It was a brutal year for her with all the family has dealt with and even with all that she is handling she got her grades back and is once again on the honour roll. This term was a heavy course load and the two classes I am most proud of is her Math and her Growth and Human Development. In math a subject she has a significant struggle with due to her learning disability she ended up with an A! The other class was her first grade 12 class she took and she managed with a lot of work to bring her grade up by more than 10% in the last week of school with extra work, projects and her final exam! She ended with a great grade and learnt a lot about what she is capable with the right supports. We are so proud of her, none of this comes easy or naturally for a girl who cannot memorize due to no working memory, and struggles with written language due to her dyslexia. What this shows is with the right supports at school and hard work that she can overcome anything. 3 years on the honour roll, we are so proud Boo!

So with no break at all Emelia got to have a bit of a social life for a day or so and then she was working all long weekend just to go directly into her co-op. She was not exactly looking forward to this. Working full time and no income for half her summer. After a lot of discussion and research Emelia was able to get a co-0p at the Boys and Girls club working as a camp counsellor for 4-6 year olds. By the time I picked her up on her first day she was loving it!!!! She is so happy that this is her placement and is already hoping that this can lead into a part time job. She loves working with the kids and has joked that she already been told a 6 year old boy professed his love for her and said he wants to marry her! We are relieved she is happy there and that this has only anchored her decision that education is where she wants to be once she is done university. This would all be amazing for her except that her part time job at the movie theatre is giving her a ton of shifts as well. Emelia hit the wall on Thursday. She had 4 shifts at the theatre over this week, including 3 days in a row which would mean she would be going through the entire weekend. Her last day off between the theatre and co-op had been June 25th so working another three days in a row she was ready to cry from exhaustion. Thankfully she was able to get rid of some of her shifts and work was quiet yesterday so she was able to be clocked out a bit earlier. All of this was what she needed. She was able to hang out with some of her best friends last night and feel like a normal teenager once again!

Next week isn’t going to be less quiet. John and I will likely be over at Helen’s every night since we leave next Friday for John’s bike race and our week off. We have a lot to go through in a few days. We know we will be able to get it all done but it is going to be a crazy few weeks.