Carla's coming!

It's been a couple of days - and thanks to those of you who have missed Maggie and me. Everything is cool here. We're just spinning that hamster wheel as fast as we can. It's been appointments, meetings, skittish dog and contractors. Brisco is all recovered from his encounter with the raccoon, but he's a little freaked out and we've kept him pretty close by.

This is an exciting day. Maggie has a visitor coming this afternoon. Her second cousin Carla is coming over. Carla is seven and her mom Moira and I are first cousins. Carla met Maggie at last year's family reunion and has been asking to visit ever since. She is fascinated with Maggie's communication device. We are looking forward to this. You might find this hard to believe, but Maggie doesn't have a lot of kids come over to visit. My friend's daughter Ann Marie likes to visit with Maggie and now Carla. Those two girls are definitely very high up in my book. Maggie's too.

Carla will be the first to see our new ceiling track lift system. It was installed over the last two days. It is a device that will carry Maggie from her bed to the shower and back again. It is suspended from the track installed on the ceiling. It will make our life easier and Maggie will be safer. Taking a shower will now be like a trip to Disneyland. We tried it out yesterday and Maggie thought it was hilarious. The contractor was delighted at her joy. I think he felt like he had done a good thing. He was right.

I can't wait for my nephew Jack to see it. Jack is the same age as Maggie. When he was little he often told me that we had the BEST toys in our house. That's because I would let the kids use 60cc syringes for squirt guns and other medical equipment we weren't using. Jack even tried Maggie's pulmo-vest, a device that goes on like a vest and vibrates to help clear secretions. Jack was the only one small enough back then to use that thing. He would put it on and try to talk but his voice would be all shaky. He's 14 now and already 6' tall, so that's no longer an option.

I asked the contractor yesterday what the weight limit was for the ceiling track. Maggie only weighs 61lbs, so I'm not too worried about it. Still it's good to know. Since this device is designed for an adult too, its capacity is more than we will even need. The limit is 440 lbs. Needless to say, it should last for quite a while.

Jack and the rest of the cousins will have a great time at the next family party. Carla can spread the word to the extended family, which seems to be about 1000 people.

Our reputation for having the BEST toys remains intact.