David's Story Part 4: More Visits

7/9/03

Mary,

David spent a chunk of the day with us today. I picked him up in the morning and showed him around Our Small Town. We came back and after a bit Hubby took him to the High School. Most of it is closed for the summer, but they were able to get in the front doors and look around just a bit. It is a fairly new building, so it is nice. We hung out, tried to come up with things to talk about. Hubby and I made a point of getting out our school work and working for about an hour. After all, the point of this visit was to begin to get an idea of what life is like here.

Tomorrow we will get him again along with Carl. Ruby will be coming over for lunch and to talk about our house rules and expectations. He is starting to get some of that information anyway. What he really wanted to know was what our rules for driving are. He is sixteen and he has already driven cars on back roads, though he has not had a permit or a license. Carl will be here in part to give David the skinny on us, but also to get his laundry done. (He will do the laundry himself, but we will kindly allow him to use the machines.) Hubby gave me a look, but I think he forgets that we did laundry at his parents’ for about two years.

The guest room (the room that will be David’s if he moves in) is painted yellow (not too bright, but definitely yellow), with pale green trim (Carl says it is sea foam green). The quilt is a tumbling block quilt made in greens. The curtains are dark green. The room looks quite good…but not if you dislike green, which it turns out David does. I have a gallon of white paint that is three years old (I wonder if it is still good?) and a blue and white quilt I can put on the bed. Painting the trim would not be that big of a deal. So I am thinking of telling David that if he wants to repaint he can, and I will help some. I could just do it, but I don’t know if I would have the time. If someone else moved the furniture it would not take me that long to paint.

I just hate to put a kid in a room that they hate to look of. At the very least I will let him have the other quilt…that will cut down on the amount of green considerably.

Anyway, it is looking pretty positive for David moving in, but nothing is final until it is final.

7/10/03

Mary,

I guess I was not quite clear. David has not complained about the color of the room. Andrew and Brian initially asked what colors he liked and disliked. Not knowing the room he said that he liked blue and white best, hated red, and did not much like green. After he saw the room I asked him what he thought and he looked awkward and just said, "There is a lot of green." Ruby said that they would pay for the paint if he decides he dislikes it enough to repaint it, but all this concern is coming from the adults. If he does not dislike it enough to do the work he will live with it as is. I can replace the green curtains with the white heavy muslin ones I took down and the agency will be willing to buy him a comforter to replace the very green quilt. That might be enough. The agency has a budget for when kids move in. They bought Carl bed linens and all sorts of room stuff: clock, lamps, trash cans, and hamper.

We probably could ask for a visit of a couple of weeks; so could he. It might be a good idea, though I know everyone wants to get him settled before school starts. He moved in the middle of last year (sophomore year) and in seventh grade he went to 4 different schools (I think that was the last year he lived with his mother).

So we will see how it all goes. Tonight at dinner I will have all the kids: Andrew and Brian, Carl, Ann and David. Should be interesting.

David's Story Part 1: The Beginning
David's Story Part 5: Still Visiting