March 2022

Not quite his first job, Nick volunteered at an elderly home for a full weekend to fulfill his school's community service requirement. He waited until there was two weeks to finish before starting, so the twenty hours was a bit of a squeeze. Brandi found him two days at 5+ hours apiece.  Overall, he got a free meal, it wasn't hard labor, serving food and setting up for events, and he said he 'liked his manager' (feels weird with Nick having 'a manager'.)  It felt like a real job to him, long hours at one time, and he's learned to appreciate break time. I think other than school and his black belt test, he's rarely worked at anything longer (yard work at Grandpa's usually ends after three hours or so.)

SFS was in the Frozen Four in Columbus again this year, so Nick and scooted down for a Thursday night playoff hockey game with Brad. Tickets were a challenge (it's Ohio... the site was broken so you couldn't buy them, then once you did, it was broken again so you couldn't use them), but we got in, after a stop at Tommy's Pizza, one of my favorite spots. We won against Brad's high school, UA, in double overtime, and got home before the random snow started. Worth it.

More driving practice, we're settling into an hour on Sunday mornings, I've figured out the app we need to use to record hours.  Other than missing stop signs, he's coming along. Still mostly out in the country away from people, early in the morning.  This is where not speaking gets more difficult, the passenger can't anticipate his intentions, and when I ask him a question, he doesn't answer (out loud).

Overall, we're ready for spring.  Ready to reduce the number of mattresses scattered thoughout the house. Brandi lost a pack of fifty floss threaders in the laundry and now they drop out of our clothes at random. Nick adds, "two-and-a-half tons of sour candy" to the shared grocery list to see what we might buy.  It's business as usual here.

Jason