A Big Surprise

We walked in the door from our vacation, pulling our luggage behind us. Beth immediately took hers to her room.... and stopped dead in her tracks. Her sister Diana had switched rooms while we were gone!

It is something we have talked about doing for years. When her sisters move out, Beth would move downstairs and get her own 'apartment'. We have a daylight basement with a bedroom and large family room. The family room would become her livingroom and kitchenette. We knew it would be alot of work and have been in the planning stages for a very long time. Well, not any more!

In the 2 1/2 days we were gone, Diana took everything out of the rooms, painted BOTH rooms, drug furniture up and down the stairs and put both rooms back together. Wow! Beth was shocked. She reluctantly took her suitcase down the stairs and just sat on her bed. For a couple of nights she didn't even sleep. I woke up at 3 one morning to find her watching TV. At 5 AM, she was in the kitchen getting something to drink. It has been quite an adjustment for her. Her night light creates unfamiliar shadows on the wall. The furniture is not arranged exactly as it was. Change is difficult for Beth. It's been more than a week and I think she is finally beginning to adjust to her new room. She slept on the couch for a while, but has been in her bed the last few nights. The family room still has some extra furniture and there are boxes yet to be unpacked. We have been cleaning closets and sorting through drawers. Today Beth and I went though her large bin of crayons, markers and colored pencils. We checked every marker and threw away those that no longer worked. We put all the good crayons in a bag and Beth is going to donate them to All Aboard. (An organization that provides activities for adults with special needs.) She then sharpened all the colored pencils! There were a lot!