Raquel, Dennis' PCA that we found on Craigslist, didn't show up today. The frustrating part about finding someone "inexpensive" is that they are generally younger and often not as dependable. I am not saying that all young people aren't dependable - my nephew, Hamed, is a great example of reliability and maturity. But Raquel, who is one of the sweetest girls I know and cares about Dennis, is rather flightly and unaware of how her actions impact others.

I had planned on dealing with selling the car that Dennis can no longer drive. Yes, I should have tried to sell this a year ago, but we kept hoping and I was over-whelmed with work and the changes in Dennis, so we just never got around to doing anything about our extra car. I needed to go over to our old houseto pick up the car, fill it with gas, drive it to yet another location, get a ride back to my car and drive home. And I was hoping to meet with a friend to take a break from all of this humdrum stuff.

Dennis told me to go and promised to sit in his office and be good. So, I went off, with reservations, to spend an hour with a friend, drive for two hours, deal with the car and check up on the house that was finally on the market. I was gone about 5 hours.

All seemed well when I came home. Dennis was happily eating chocolate cake and working on the computer. He had reconfigured the wireless settings that we had been experiencing trouble with since we had Comcast installed and seemed in an okay mood. Then he told me he wanted to take a nap. As I was helping him into bed, he told me he had been lonely while I was gone. He had been afraid to be alone and realized how hard everything was for him when no one else was around.

Which means to say, before I go back to work in the fall we will need to find a new PCA.

We both new this day would come, but we were still hoping that somehow Raquel would work out for us. She is so kind and gentle and Dennis really likes her. But, more than that we need dependability. We need to know that when I go to work, someone will be here to help him and keep him safe. I need to know that I will come home to Dennis in an upright, well fed, dressed and happy condition.

I know that there are others to be found that will have great attributes that we like and will be more realiable, too. But I am not looking forward to the process of looking, interviewing, hiring and breaking in someone new. I think I had better get use to this, however. Oh, well, live, love, laugh and be happy.

Until tommorow,
Ann and Dennis