Update on Brian

He's great!

It occurs to me that I only write about him when he is having trouble. I write that he is having anxiety attacks, then nothing for months and months, then another chunk of time when he is having trouble with anxiety.

He really is doing well. He is sad that Andrew is going to go away, but he is not broken up over the thought like he was a few years ago. It used to be that we couldn't talk about it without him crying. Even one year ago Roland and I thought it would best if we got a new kid in the house before Andrew left so as to help ease the transition for him. Having someone in the house to be quarreling with would provide a distraction, if nothing else.

Now however Brian can think about his brother leaving without doing more than feeling sad. I promised to add unlimited Text and Pictures to our cell phone plan and I think that will help. Brian doesn't chat on the phone terribly well. He gets lonely, but he doesn't always have a lot to say. However if he can send and receive pictures via phone he will feel more in contact with his brother. They also both have headsets for World of Warcraft and will play together periodically. Andrew promises to schedule some times when they can play on-line together when he is gone.

The play rehearsals at his school still go one. Brian is having a difficult time memorizing all the lines in Harvey. Elwood, the main character, does have an awful lot of lines. A good bit of it is essentially a monologue. Elwood may be talking to Harvey, but since Harvey doesn't actually speak, it's a monologue. He has been unwilling to have us help him, which is too bad. The play go pushed back a full month because so many people missed rehearsal when that killer virus was going around. The performance now is only a few weeks away. I am trying to resist getting anxious over whether he has learned his lines.

He very much wants contacts. He will be fourteen in June and I have told him for several years that as soon as I see him getting up on his own early enough to shower and be ready, I will let him have the contacts. He is quite convinced he can do that, although so far he has not. He decided that he would not get new glasses so that the insurance money would be there to buy the contacts as soon as he convinces me he is ready. We will see what happens when school starts.

So...that is the rather boring Brian report. He is doing well.