mental-health – alittlebitdifferentalotthesame

SUMMER FUN CONTINUED!

July continued to be busy after camp. I went on a family vacation to Rangeley, Maine. We rented a beautiful house near the lake, with my mom, sister, grandparents, aunt and uncle. We used to do this when I was little, so this was a return to something I don’t remember very well!

Going out of my comfort zone was once again part of my day! I went kayaking!! The first time, I was with my mom, and I was afraid to paddle! But I overcame that fear when we went the second time. I was with my Auntie Dawn, and she wouldn’t let me just go for the ride! So I paddled! And I did great! I can’t wait to get a chance to go kayaking again! I think we are going to get one of our own! I don’t have any pictures to share. None of us had our phones on the water! My grandfather took pictures on an old fashioned snap camera, but I haven’t seen them yet.

Going out to find a moose was a highlight of our trip! We saw two the same night! One of them was out in the middle of the road! It didn’t want to move out of the way!

Campfires and making s’mores is always a special part of family vacations. I love the smell of campfires, and I love to eat s’mores! Games were part of the evenings. Yahtzee and Farkle are two of my favorites!

The sunsets were really beautiful and it was relaxing to sit on the porch and watch them.

The best part of being on vacation for two different weeks in July….I GOT PAID!!

Just a short note:

Tomorrow I have a meeting with the Deputy Commissioner for DDS to talk about how I feel about remote supports, and to see if I can get some more hours of support to help me get ready to move into my apartment in the spring. Keep your fingers crossed for me! I have so much to offer if I can just get the help I need. My mom and my sister are great, and help me a lot…but to be more independent, I need to learn how to do things without them all the time. I am so excited about moving into my own apartment, but I want to be ready!!

This photo was taken at the ground breaking ceremony for the new apartments! I was asked to speak about what it means to me to have the chance to live in a supported apartment, so I got to wear a hard hat and hold the shovel afterwards!

Time to Catch Up!

Full Disclosure: AI is helping me write this post!

Since I decided to go dark on social media during Covid—probably to avoid sharing my sourdough bread failures—I’m here to give you a whirlwind tour of my adventures! Sure, they might resemble a chaotic treasure map more than a timeline, but hey, you’ll get the gist of my shenanigans!

I wasn’t really making sour dough bread..lol..but I did do some baking. More on that later!

I proudly graduated from East Hartford High School in June of 2020. Despite the challenges posed by Covid, I embraced the unique experience of a virtual graduation and successfully completed a drive-thru ceremony to receive my diploma

This picture cracks me up! I was sitting on my couch watching graduation, but AI put me in a crowd! LOL!!

After I finished high school, I headed over to Eastern Connecticut State University for this cool transition program with Horizons. The first year,I had to do it from home. The second year, I went to the campus in Willimantic. I had an awesome time there! I juggled a few jobs, like cleaning at a firehouse, stocking books at the library, and reading stories to kids at a preschool. The preschool gig was definitely my favorite. Plus, I was in class every day, taking an Early Childhood Education class and a dance class. I graduated from that program in 2023.

After I graduated from Eastern, finding a job was pretty hard, so I decided to check out this job training program called Project Search. It was run by MARC, the local ARC chapter in Manchester, CT. The program took place at Goodwin College in East Hartford, and I hopped on the ADA bus to get there every day. I focused on boosting my computer skills, typing, and putting together my resume. There weren’t a ton of jobs available, but I did do some work at the library and cafeteria now and then. I graduated from that program in 2024.

OK! So that was the update of my education and work training experiences. I will be back later to add some Catchups of the fun….and some not so fun….things I have been doing. See you soon!