Minnesota gals, Ian and Keilani at retreat, Doucettes at Real Thai

October 27, 2023:

Alright let’s go. Honestly one of the main things I got out of the retreat was the knowledge that I enjoy this project so much because I have a background in journalism, and I enjoy taking notes on my life. That’s also why I sometimes have veered into including way too many irrelevant details, just because I feel like if I record it, I should publish it. Anyways, I’m still working on getting a little more focused in what I write here. I still think I should write down pretty much everything for my brain injury memory issues, but there’s no need to share all of that with the world.

Ok so basically today I left the retreat at like 9:15am, after I had a bacon, egg and cheese burrito that I took my meds with at 7:59am, the instant I finished my burrito. I said goodbye a lot, and got a lot of people’s contact information. Definitely added many people on Instagram, and Ian told me that his number changes often so it’s better to get him on Instagram than to get the number. The other thing I accomplished was taking a picture with Monica and Christina, the two other Minnesota girls. Monica was my roommate, and I still don’t know if they put people together who live in the same state on purpose. Christina lives like an hour or so away, while Monica is almost in Minneapolis. I’ve posted our picture on Instagram now too!

I honestly wasn’t taking a ton of notes this morning because I finished my notebook #13, and only had like half a page left. I know I talked to a bunch of people and gave some people my blog link. Then, my mom picked me up, and took me back to the Doucette house. We first went shopping, where I bought a beautiful new hardcover notebook. It’s #14, and is maroon. Another thing I decided while on the retreat is that I strongly, strongly prefer hardcover notebooks to the paperback ones. After we shopped for a little food for Kirsten, we dropped that off and drove over to Eleanor’s skating place and watched her practice for a bit in individual lessons. She can really jump! And I wondered how you can even get to that level. I couldn’t even do the “pistol squat” on one leg that Kirsten said she does for practice. We picked her up, and then we decided to go for Thai food tonight. We went to a place called Real Thai, with Bailey and Jon too. I had the pineapple curry at a spicy level 3 out of 5. It was not even close to too spicy for me, though I tried Jon’s 4 and thought that was a lot closer. Now we’re just back at their house and are gonna do a Harry Potter jigsaw puzzle and watch TV.

Grateful: Well, I'm very very grateful for all the connections I made at the retreat. I suppose that kind of proves that I do have the ability to make new friends, though I'm sure it's easier if they all also have brain injuries. I'm also thinking about volunteering at the retreat next year. Might make more connections, and I'm pretty sure Ian is coming back too.