Seeing Through the Cracks

Chapter 25

 It will be a couple more weeks before Nick can live in residence with Jake. He needs time to organize this with work, and then Jake will be coming home to break for Reading Week. In the meantime, Brian and I take turns with driving duties to the university and back. This small break allows me some much-needed time to focus on myself and my business. Brian has such a busy work schedule that I appreciate any time that he can spare. I take time to rest, and I also see clients and attend a couple of business network meetings. It is good to be around my business associates; these are relationships I have nurtured and have received a tremendous amount of support from, not just in terms of business but also in my personal life.

The winter weather this month has been brutally cold with high wind chill factors, but for the most part we have received little snowfall, and the roads have been clear for driving. Later in the week, we get a snowfall that prevents us one evening from retrieving Jake from school, and he successfully spends a night on his own in residence. He is starting to turn a corner.

Jake returns home with me on the Friday evening; he feels happy that he had a successful first meeting with his Special Needs Advisor. Together they have arranged for some modifications to Jake's program. In order to reduce his anxiety he will be given extra time and a separate room to take his tests and exams in, as needed. She has also suggested that a Peer Support Student may be helpful in offering Jake more accountability and leverage; someone who can check in on him and offer an extra foothold as Jake works through school assignments and obligations. This will be a third or fourth year student volunteer, and so he will have to wait to see who will be available for this role. It is one more piece that we are both grateful will be eventually added to the package that will aid Jake in achieving a more successful semester. Jake also feels happy that the week has worked out well. Classes have been interesting, and he met with his new friend again, managed an overnight in residence, is working hard and seems to be in a good place. He feels the added naturopathic remedy is also helping to take the edge off so that he can deal with his sadness; he feels more upbeat and calmer. Week three of semester two is behind us, with more work to do, but it somehow feels a much lighter load as we celebrate more small victories that are adding up to a brighter future for Jake.

We spend the weekend together as a family. Jake gets in some time on the slopes snowboarding on Saturday before we drive to Nick's apartment to give him a hand with moving some furniture. We all spend Sunday together in our family home with Jake doing school assignments, and Nick giving him some much appreciated guidance with his English project. The guys play table tennis, and then we all make dinner together - braised beef ribs and caramelized onions, another favourite. We sit down to watch the annual Super Bowl football match on the television, but I make it only halfway through before succumbing to complete exhaustion, and then find my way to bed.

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