The First of September

Today is the start of a new season. Even though the weather is still very warm out there today, and shall continue the rest of the week, we are told....it's September....the beginning of a new season, when summer is done...it always goes so quickly , and the fall or autumn season has begun. Now, it doesn't officially start til the 21st or 22nd of September...they always seem to be changing that day...or maybe it's just me and I can't keep track...I could google it but then some radio or TV person will talk about it closer to the date....I just know that it's around Lauren's birthday.....before that, definitely still in summer is Leslie's birthday.....the day before Lauren's is Pettis'birthday....he's Lauren's significant other....I was figuring out the years that all my kids were born in at 3 o'clock this morning....yes, it was a bad night for sleeping .....
Leslie-1974
Ryan-1976
Leah-1979
Corey-1983
Lauren-1986
Paul-1988
Ben-1991
Maya-1992
Emma-1993
Megan-1995

Yes, it was a busy household....although I think the largest number I had in the house at one time was six....so that's not too bad, although at the time I , and many others, thought I was crazy....still do.
( the worst will be if any of them read this list and tell me that I got there year wrong) :-(

It's still a busy household...partly because the three kids still left in the house, are each at their own level of being developmentally/ intellectually delayed...plus the fact that I'm much older myself...MUCH older...as the government sent me notification the other day that in honour of my sixty-fifth birthday, this November, that now, instead of being covered under my husbands work benefits for prescriptions, I'm now under their thumb..AND....I have the privilege of paying them $100 annually to be under this thumb...plus of course the dispensing fee...which, up until now was minimal....AND...don't forget the and....perhaps, some of the drugs that are required to keep me comfortable and breathing into my old age...just might not be covered by them.....

Well, Happy Birthday to me!

So, this month some changes are happening....after having my teenagers attending the local high school for over 27 years!....can you imagine that! After 27 years we've finally come to the last Wettlaufer, attending Orchard Park high school, for their very last year. After this last school year is completed, I will no longer have to call into the school when someone is sick, write notes to excuse someone for an appointment ( or as I've found out...have my kids write the notes, unbeknownst to me) , and teachers conferences,...oh, the teachers conferences......make sure somebody has caught the bus in time so I don't have to drive them 5 Kms away.....yes, THIS IS THE YEAR, people.....can I hear a cheer....well, actually I'm too tired to cheer so I'll just give a big sigh....

This year, Megan, my youngest is going into her Transition year....now I could make a lot of jokes and wise cracks about that but I won't....suffice to say, it's the year that they try to get a developmentally delayed young adult prepared for leaving the safe cocoon of their classroom that they've known for the last eight years and go out into the big, dark scary world. Also, in preparation to this end, and because Megan was granted something called Passport funding....we have been getting her involved in programs....programs to develop social and sometimes employable skills for DD adults.
Right now she's involved in these programs on Tuesday and Thursday's....so she will not attend school those days...plus, she's been taking a bus training course...no, silly, not to drive a bus but to hopefully teach her how to independently get herself to her programs....then I don't have to drive her...cause I'm getting old ya know....the government sent me an official letter telling me so....

Anyways, so that has changed for this momentous season changing time of the year. Ben, has also joined more programs with the help of his passport funding...yea! He's busy every day of the week now and not vegging out in front of the tv watching cartoons all day, and Maya....well Maya still has her two afternoons a week that she volunteers at the retirement home and she's trying to get employment...nothing too straining but just a little something to get her out in the community and give her a few extra bucks in her pocket. Unfortunately, Maya's passport funding has not come thru yet so she's unable to join in on the activities that are afforded to by Ben and Megan....but hopefully her funding will come soon....

So, it's a full month and it's only day one.....school is starting for the last time...yea! There are three birthdays to celebrate....we have to figure out when we can get 'up north' and get our trailer closed and winterized, hopefully fit in a trip further north to visit with eldest son and his family...I fear his youngest is never going to know who nana and papa are....

So, here we go....the roller coaster has begun....






~ Marie