Saturday, September 4th - Spent most of last night computing and went to bed early. Jim was supposed to come over last night and didn’t. It’s now 9:30 and Karen and Krissy are playing upstairs. Carrie is still sleeping. Kim this morning, good.

Thursday, September 9th - Jeannie this AM, good. She is taking a personal day tomorrow so I’m not sure who I’ll have. No aid yesterday, Vicki called in sick and Karen filled in. Rich was good on Tuesday. We gave Jeanie the day off on Monday due to it being Labor Day. Karen filled in. Something personal came up for Karen on Sunday so no Church or bible study. Didn’t do anything special on Monday except a nice dinner out in Montrose. No physical therapy this week either, waiting for the approval from Workers Compensation. Jim called last night to say Hi and that he would stop by but he wasn’t sure when. Missed lodge last Thursday, thought it was tonight. Still getting used to the merger. Karen is spending the evening with Krissy and I am chaperoning Carrie and David here. Spent a lot of time on the kennels/patio this week, they are looking good. The weeds are almost gone now.

Monday, September 13th - Ballinger house support group meetings for Karen and I this evening. Just got back.. Thanked Ray Tenney again for the tip on water therapy. Asked him for another tip (jokingly) and he said music therapy really helped his speech. Have to check it out. Found out a neighbor(3 or 4 houses away) was a survivor also. Just met him tonight but he’s moving to Florida in a few weeks. Karen was talking about her meeting and how unfortunate most people in our situation are, financially. She wandered aloud what could be done to help them. Interesting thing is her comment after reading my journal entries a few weeks ago that “we can’t save the world” Hmmm. She also said they spent a lot of time talking about their various legal problems. Found a web page for lawyers who specialize in TBI’s and e-mailed them. Was going to include it but my history is gone due to my PC crashing.

Tuesday, September 14th - Rich this morning, good. Karen suggested the possibility of Terry taking me to Akron Rotary and he was willing so off we went. Also stopped downtown to show Terry my office and the firm after Rotary. Saw Steve Schecter while I was there and really thanked him for keeping me involved in Wadsworth Rotary for it is through there that I met Mel Ballinger and heard Ray Tenney speak about his water therapy.

Thursday, September 16th - Woke up this morning and intentionally rolled onto my side and fell back asleep. 1st time, I think. Jeannie’s early morning, 6:00.We are supposed to go out today and buy a roof (canvas) for my patio. Went to Hocking valley park this afternoon and weather was great, 75 and sunny. Met a man there named Clift who is also disabled. Works for Akron mental health department. He is also very active with his Baptist church. Seemed like a really nice man and the fishing was lousy so I invited him over to fish.

Friday, September 17th - As I’ve said before, what a difference a few minutes can make. Karen and I were trying to go to therapy, a few minutes late, as usual, and Krissy was being difficult, refusing to get in the van. Then she took off running towards the back yard and Karen followed. After 5 or so minutes and their not being back I got the idea to try and load myself into the front seat of our van and succeeded! Karen was very surprised when she came back in a few minutes looking for me and seeing the empty chair. Went to therapy and told Steve. He was very happy.

Thursday, September 23d - Went to therapy yesterday and my sister, Anne, and ex-brother-in-law, Walt, stopped by.. She is in town for the week. When she was last here, I think, I was still doing water therapy. She was very impressed by my work and offered to buy me a piece of fairly expensive exercise equipment so I can do more therapy at home, but like the therapy at Edwin Shaw. It should come in a week or so. I have been riding in the Van’s front seat, loading and unloading myself for a week now..

Saturday, September 25th - Anne and Walt stopped by on their way back home, was a very nice visit. They have been into Transcendental Meditation for about 20 years now and, interestingly, she said that after my experience she no longer felt like she understood God. The thing is, God is beyond my understanding too. The best thing I feel we have to try and understand God is The Holy Bible and Jesus Christ.