Joshua's Week At Therapeutic Recreation: "The Etiquettes" (or the lack thereof)

Joshua has had a fun week at Therapeutic Recreation.

On Tuesday, they spent the morning cleaning up the Center. They'd had their Halloween party there on Friday night. Joshua didn't get to go because he was on this trip with his dad. Clark, however, DID go to the party. He worked it as the DJ. Well, actually, it was karaoke night, so there wasn't much DJ-ing. He just had to go around and ask everyone what song they wanted him to play, and then wait 45 minutes to an hour for each FRIEND to make up their minds. Ha!

Clark said it was a lot of fun. All of the FRIENDS called him "Logan" on purpose, and they thought it was soooo funny. And all the FRIENDS asked him where Joshua was...even tho THE DAY BEFORE Joshua told everyone where he was going to be.

Bless it.

There was lots of singin' and swayin'. Jenni, Joshua's girlfriend of over 10 years, may or may not have dedicated the song, "Call Me Maybe" to him...and looked at him and giggled the whole time she sang it. Clark said it was the most uncomfortable he's been in a LONG time.

Bless it.

Apparently, the FRIENDS did not act well at a restaurant a couple of weeks ago. I don't know exactly what happened...I haven't had a chance to ask Mrs. Alanna. The FRIENDS are usually not shy about ratting each other out, but when I asked Joshua about it, he said he doesn't know what went on.

This means one of two things: 1) he doesn't know what went on; 2) HE is "what went on."

I don't think it was him. We've dragged him all over the Creation his whole, entire life...so he's knows how to act in social situations. The only thing Joshua said was that maybe it had something to do with some of the FRIENDS not leaving a tip...or not leaving enough of a tip. I don't know.

He said Mrs. Alanna had had ENOUGH. Mrs. Alanna is VERY quiet and soft-spoken, so if SHE got upset...it must've been bad. AND, the group has not been out to eat in 2 weeks, so...as they say, "there's your sign."

Joshua said that "they" (meaning everyone ELSE) need a refresher course on "The Etiquettes." They had a session a year or two ago, and he thinks everyone has forgotten their manners (meaning: everyone ELSE has forgotten). I told him to mention it to Mrs. Alanna, and maybe she could go over everything again...and just let everyone know what is expected out of them. And JOSHUA said that maybe HE could teach the class.

Oh, really?

Later, he told me that, instead of teaching the whole group all at once, he was thinking he could just go to each person...one-on-one...and tell them they have bad manners and need to learn The Etiquettes.

Knock, knock? Anyone still here?

This is gonna go over reeeeeeeeeeeal well, I can just tell.

Luckily, he keeps forgetting to bring it up to Mrs. Alanna.

They also did some "team-building" activities, but two of the FRIENDS didn't want to participate. Again. There's your sign.

On Wednesday, he said they sat around and visited for about 30 minutes, and "catched up."

You know, because it had been 17 whole hours since they'd all seen each other.

They are still learning about different countries in their Branch-Out time, and this day they talked about England. Or, as Joshua calls it, "The Land of Harry Potter." Joshua was so excited! They each made family crests that were cut out from poster board. They could create their own, or they could choose one from a list that Mrs. Alanna had. Some of them were plain, and some were very detailed. Jenni's was colored real pretty and had symbols all over it that represented different things from her family: a heart for love, a cross for faith, etc.

Joshua's shield was painted one color: orange. It had a red line down the center of it that he did all by himself. I was more than a little impressed with the straightness of it! He said his family shield represented "military strength," or "bravery."

When I came to pick him up, the FRIENDS were watching a movie. Some were seated in chairs and some were watching from the art tables. Joshua was sitting on the front row, HOLDING HANDS WITH A GIRL WHO WAS NOT JENNI. And Jenni, she was over at the art table, happily finishing up her family shield. When Jenni saw me, she got up and walked with us to our car. She and Joshua hugged and gave each other a kiss before he got into the car. I was just shaking my head. I asked him why he was holding hands with this other girl, and he said, "she was scared of the movie." I asked him what movie it was, and he said, "a guinea pig movie." I said, "ooooookay." He said, "a guinea pig movie with some bad guinea pigs, as it were."

Today, they had fitness at the gym. He said he over-did it a little and was all kinds of exhausted.

Me, too, Joshua.

And just from re-telling this story!

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works..." Hebrews 10:24