Hello, my name is...

So tomorrow we are finally getting the third resident next door. When we moved in, there was a third person, but he was gone before we finished our training. Then the plan was to move a girl in who was known to "take people down" - as in to the ground, by grabbing their shirt collars and doing some move she apparently had perfected. I was so not looking forward to that. The next person on the list seemed okay, she didn't have a "take down" move that we knew of, but she did scream. A lot. Like any time she moved or looked at you. That really wasn't too cool either but I thought, "guess it could be worse". Until we asked about aggression with her and were told that there had only been one incident where she had been aggressive and she reportedly bit a guy's ear off. Yes, she pulled a Mike Tyson on him. Uhhm, yeah, throw bananas at me, rip off the rearview mirror, whatever, but see, I really like my ears. Both of them. Anyway, it was decided it was not in her best interest or ours for her to move in (breathe a sigh of relief here) and thus, we have had an empty room for the last five months. We've rather enjoyed only having two guys, as they have kept us plenty busy and overly active. However, we do feel like we are settled in and ready for the third person and he is coming tomorrow. Our world will never be the same.

We don't know a whole lot about him. We know his name, and that may be all even he knows. He was not born with a disability. He apparently had an infectious disease that has worked its way into his brain. He has two children and an ex-wife. Until November of last year he worked in a warehouse and had a home and a seemingly normal life. Then he got sick, but since he didn't have insurance, went and lived in his parents' basement for the next five months until he was too much for them to care for and they took him to the hospital.

He seems to have had an interesting life even before this. Somewhere in the paperwork, there is mention of being in the military but being discharged due to an injury when his "parachute failed to open." No kidding, it really says that. And yeah, I would guess that there would be injury if that was the case. I really hope to learn more about that sometime. But it probably won't happen.

Unlike our other two who have had developmental disabilities all of their lives, this guy has what amounts to a traumatic brain injury. But since he didn't hit his head and the "injury" spread internally, it has affected several parts of the brain. This manifests itself primarily in the form of no short-term memory. That's right. I am thinking our life will be a little like the movie "Fifty First Dates" with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. We will be able to prove the old adage wrong, as we really will get a second chance to make a first impression. And a third chance, and a fourth, and a....

The part of this that all my friends laugh about is that I am really excited about this one. It's different and it's intriguing. And it absolutely should bring about some good blog material. So, we'll see what happens!