Ben called me last week to tell me that he had delivered his first assigned speech in "Public Speaking 101" class - he chose an autobiographical theme "My Mission in Life", and his is - poetry. According to Ben, he got two pieces of negative feedback from classmates to work on: saying "um" and looking at his notes too much. the rest of the comments were positive!....one was "You're so emotionally expressive." Oh my God, if they only knew. The classmates have no idea Ben has schizophrenia; for him to be emotionally expressive, in this constructive way (i.e. not psychotic) is amazing. Truly amazing.
Oh - and he has started doing push-ups. Cute girls in class, he says. I sent him a text to ask if his muscles were still sore. the reply: "very much so. but I am not giving up!" So far in school, so good. The only way to stay with this: enjoy the moment. How wonderful it is, though.
