A Truly Lovely Day

I had the most lovely afternoon with my daughter today. She moved, somewhat unwillingly, into her own (first) apartment last Saturday. Despite having more than a week to get ready (months actually), she moved out unprepared. She didn't have flatware, dishes, glasses, pots or pans, or anything useful for living on your own. For those of you familiar with inattentive brain ADHD, planning ahead or having a vision for the future - even if that future is only 48 or 24 hours away - is not a thing. Without tools and strategies for planning and executing tasks, NOTHING gets done. Nothing is important until it's...too late.

So, alone in her disorganized tiny apartment, Katherine started to figure out what she was missing. Most notable, she couldn't cook meals - unless they came in a microwavable package, which she has decided is fine once in a while but not every.single.day. Ahhh. The brain starts to learn what happens when you fail to plan.

Anyway, Grandparents (and parents...just to be clear) are awesome for just such situations. Katherine's apartment door was bombarded with Amazon deliveries this week; gifts from her Michigan grandparents and her parents. Then she discovered that she has no way to cut into a box! 😉 Queue a mom visit.

Today, I spent some time with her at her apartment unboxing all the Amazon deliveries and putting the things away, unboxing stuff that moved from Vermont and putting it away, and finding a temporary storage solution for the food she has purchased which was still in bags, sitting on the floor, invisible to her - she had no idea what food she had accumulated. Of the Amazon goodies that arrived this week, her favorites were probably the cookies (Mrs. Field's cookies!), the pots and pans (now she can make dinner!), and her very own toaster! (all gifts from Oma, the master of gift giving)

With her apartment floor fully visible again, we stopped at the OTHER grocery store (not the one where she works) for a few things she needed/wanted and then went on the hunt for place where she could get a haircut...no openings. Undeterred, she decided she'd like to check out the library. She found a couple of books and signed up for her own library card; another step in Livingston residency. With these fun things accomplished, it was time to join up with grandparents and Papa for a special dinner out; a celebration of one week of independent living.

It's only been one week but there is a noticeable growth happening in this late-blooming young adult. She was pleasant and upbeat the whole time we were together and she was excited and grateful for the many gifts that showed up at her door, including the box cutter. She expressed a desire to make the apartment look good with pictures for the walls and a rug for the floor (she has never cared what her space looked like before). While we were working, she met a couple of her neighbors whom she greeted with smiles, handshakes, and friendly banter (Katherine doesn't usually do friendly banter). And she was talkative and engaged during dinner until a loud group sat down at the table next to us making it very difficult for her to hear the conversation at our table...remember the inattentive brain ADHD? This condition makes it extremely difficult to isolate desired conversation voices from ambient undesired noises. It is in these situations that she shuts down. Fortunately, dinner was mostly over so we could move outside where it was quieter.

All the positives of this day don't guarantee a bump-free future for Katherine but I was so pleased to spend a lovely (even the weather was lovely) afternoon with my favorite daughter.