Eighteenth Visit to Taft

Ron is now into his 20th week at Taft. The bloom is off the rose, and boredom has set in. As with all new experiences, there is excitement, anticipation and a bit of fear at the beginning. Once you settle in, know that you are safe, learn your routine and realize that this is all there is for the next X number of months, the boredom begins.

That is exactly where Ron is now. His routine is well, routine. Up at 5:30, breakfast at 6:00, walk for an hour, then go to the garden. Lunch at 11:00, back to the garden for a few more hours. I think he takes a nap/rest after that, gets mail or reads or writes, then dinner at 5:00. After dinner he often umpires a softball game. Shower and a little boring TV and off to bed. Next day, do it all again. The only deviations are Fridays whene he has visitors and Saturday and Sunday when he has no work. The weekends are even more boring, there's nothing to do but hang out. He never talks anymore about movie night. Maybe they cut that out. Luckily he has a few good friends and they spend hours talking. Ron is looking forward to football season to spice up his weekends. If only he could find a fourth bridge player he'd have hours of fun.

What I've found happening is that because he has so much time to just sit and think, problems become exacerbated. For example, if he hasn't gotten a letter from a friend in a long time, he thinks about why they haven't written, imagines all sorts of things, when in normal life he would simply move on. There's a reason for the phrase "An idle mind is the devil's workshop."

I have to give Taft credit for trying to keep the men busy. They do have a lot of activities, but most of them don't involve using their mind. Ron was always thinking, learning and analyzing and to now be put in a situation where the most challenging thing he does each day is transplant tomatoes is very difficult. Thank goodness for sudoku, crosswords, books and articles and of course conversation.

So his challenge is to keep optomistic, positive and mentally active. He's still doing well, looking good, feeling great, and keeping that "the glass is have full" attitude. I am proud of him. I check off the weeks on the calendar, and realize that in a few weeks he will have one year left. That sounds like a long time when I say it, but I see these five months have gone quickly and I am optomistic about the next year flying by. Attitude is everything and he suprises me every day with his positive outlook. What choice do I have but to follow his lead? We had our best visit ever on Friday, which I will talk about next week. Ron's new phrase that keeps him so positive is "If it doesn't kill you, it'll make you stronger. More about that next week.