Hello From Rockville

Today is Sunday and I had not told Harlan yesterday that tomorrow would be Sunday and I did not get phone calls from him either Saturday night or Sunday morning. I did called him from McD to tell him it was Sunday and I'd be in shortly with coffee and help him get ready. We went to church then back to his room to change clothes to go out to eat. I went to his closet to get something for him to wear but forgot to tell him that I would take his tie off for him (I don't know how to tie a tie so we just loosen it and remove it over his head) and guess what when I turned around he had it removed and untied and I kinda lost it. I told him he wasn't suppose to untie it and he just laughed and told me he could tie it himself. I told him to retie it and when he had it retied we would go out to eat. He tired and tried and could not but laughing most of the time (it was rather funny to watch him try). Pretty soon he left his room and I figured he was going to the bathroom to watch himself in the mirror to see if that would work better for him I called out to him to come back to his room as he could use the mirror in his room, he finally came back but left again (he wasn't discouraged as he had been trying to get the tie retired for some time) this time he just stood outside his door and then I heard this conversation, female voice in the hall, "You want your tie tied?" Harlan, "Yes". Female voice in the hall, "I can't tie a tie". Male voice in the hall, "I can't either". 2nd male voice in the hall, "I can". At that point I went out into the hall and with instructions from Duane Brianna tied Harlan's tie and we went to lunch. The whole time this was going on Harlan thought it was funny but I must give him credit he knew what to do to "Get The Job Done", just stand in the hallway until help comes and it worked as his tie is ready for the next time it is needed.

We went to Applebee's, I had steak and Harlan had BBQ ribs he really enjoyed them. I brought a bib from the VA that covered him well, the bib was messy but his clothes stayed clean.

We went back to the VA and watched the Twins win then tuned to channel 2 and the Big Band show which he really enjoyed. We had a good day, good night ........Fran