On preparations.

I spent the fourth of July in Florida with Maddie and the family. The display of residential fireworks was breathtaking. It really was a gorgeous and glorious holiday, and even Maddie got to come outside for a little bit. She’s been dealing with a slight cold, so she’s been taking a break from her therapies and programs. When she’s feeling better, we’ll dive right back into it. At the end of this month, she’ll be traveling to Austin, Texas for a week-long intensive therapy with Dr. Crawford. I’m excited to see how Maddie responds because so far, she’s responded well to all the therapies we’ve tried: hyperbaric oxygen treatments, stem cell treatments, and MNRI therapy. And we haven’t even seen all her gains yet! A lot of these therapies take months to fully kick in, so it’s an exciting and hopeful time for us and for Maddie. I’m a little bummed I’m not able to go Austin, but I am getting excited for my trip to Limerick, Ireland.

I’ll be living in Brennan Court in Kilmurry Village at the University of Limerick. The pictures I’ve seen look amazing and I can’t wait to share my own personal photos with you. I filled out a Google Form in order to be able to move into my accommodation early. I’m going to receive a confirmation email in about 72 hours, and then I’ll be able to book my flight. I’ve been waiting because the COVID restrictions and regulations are changing often (and there’s supposed to be a new announcement on July 19th), and I have to make sure there’s enough time to quarantine–if need be. I’ve been focusing on buying luggage and coming up with a list of what to pack. I have to bring my own linens, and they can take up a lot of space, so I’m purchasing a three-piece luggage set with packing cubes that can be compressed. That’s my first major purchase and once I start filling those up, it might actually feel real. I also have to call my bank to make sure my card doesn’t get blocked once I’m abroad, and I have to contact Navient to defer my payments while I’m back in school.

I’m fairly confident I’ll forget something and inadvertently make my life harder.

I don’t want to be rusty when I get to Ireland as far as my creative writing is concerned, so I tried writing this week, but it all felt forced and awful. I was able to flesh out the plot some more and I did generate some solid ideas, but I’m having trouble executing those ideas. I think I need to delve back into reading some fiction. I also am considering switching from typing to handwriting. Typing is all muscle memory, but because handwriting engages with different parts of the brain, it ignites a different kind of creativity. That could help. I’ll let you know how that goes.

I’ll be back in New Jersey around the 20th–about a month before my flight. The plan is to pack and prepare, but I also want to make sure I see all of my friends and family. Life’s been weird and it feels like mine has been stopped twice: once with the pandemic, twice with Maddie’s accident.

So here’s to preparing for good times, for hopeful times.

The post On preparations. appeared first on mandi bean: writer.