Georgia has had particular challenges with her Parkinson’s disease lately and the anxiety that is connected to it. The biggest challenge recently has been that noises in the house trigger her panic and anxiety, and her room is right in the middle of all of the commotion. Our house is very noisy considering the children’s comings, goings, playing and fighting etc. Georgia has been retreating to the garage and sitting in her car, and that helps some, but it also didn’t feel like the best accommodation to her, and it wouldn’t be sustainable through winter.
Today Georgia hit a breaking point and said she was thinking she might need to move out and live with her friend Nelly. The idea was that even if she still lived here much of the time, she could still have a place to go where it would be quiet. My dad graciously drove down on short notice to show us some nearby places. Mary was super sad at the thought of Georgia not being around all the time and suggested we just soundproof her room. That kindof went in one ear and out the other at the moment she said it, but then later in the evening, I realized that a large section of our garage is connected to Georgia’s bathroom. We all started talking and we realized we could build her an additional sound proof room that would be surrounded by quite on all sides, floor and ceiling, and would have sound proofing on top of that and we could also soundproof her current room. That would give her space for a care taker as well when that became necessary. We called our dear contractor friend Moroni and walked through plans. At the end of the day, we decided to go that route and not have Georgia get a place on her own, especially given the amount of needs she has when she is not feeling well. We even mutually discussed the possibility of a care center before we realized the home addition was an option, given that some care centers are quite nice and just like little apartments with helping hands. I’m so glad we found a solution to keep her here! The thought of her leaving is very sad.
As a side benefit to all of the house-hunting, it was a delight to see my dad. He was up-beat, kind and delightful and everyone enjoyed his company. Here are some other pictures and a video from the day:
In the video below Clarissa is unsurprisingly talking about BooBoo Bottom. I think that originated from “BooBoo Butt” from a page in The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novack. Clarissa is super silly and it’s no wonder she has fallen in love with talking about BooBoo Bottom (and also underpants).