Babbling on Thursday

I've been having issues with posting for the last few weeks. I hope I have it figured out by now and this one will actually go up.

I'm still working at the ranch with the cognitively challenged adults. I just passed my first year anniversary working here and I have to say it HAS been a challenge. Thankfully, Porter and Celeste are still with me, and having them is a blessing. Two normally-thinking minds in the midst of the abnormal. Celeste keeps everyone in line while Porter lets me know when things like seizures are happening.

Porter has recently begun to let me know about seizures more in advance. There is only one in the house that seizes, and before the seizure starts, Porter sits in front of the person and works to make eye contact with me. He keeps his back to the seizure, I think because it upsets him, and stares at me. He does not move, otherwise. Porter used to bark a lot to get someone's attention, and waited till the seizure was obvious before he did anything. So I am imagining that his understanding of seizures is evolving some.

Celeste is aloof. She has no desire to become involved with the residents of the house. She used to bark at people who had tantrums and yelled, but lately, she has simply sat looking at them, as if to study the behavior.

It appears that I have two canine scholars who are working at their degrees in human bahavioral studies.

As for me, I periodically have to remind myself that I am not defined by my job. I have an idea of how the parents of these people must have felt as they watched their child grow up, knowing that their capacity for learning and functioning in the world would be quite limited. It's sometimes disheartening to realize that as adults, they have no more capabilities than they did as little children. Arrested development. What a thought. As I move around the world of the mentally handicapped, there are so many more than I was ever aware of.

It all makes me so thankful that my own daughter is a gorgeous and normally functioning adult. I do not look forward to spending more time working here, but there must be something else that I am to do here, since I haven't been able to find a different job yet.