Summer in San Francisco

Hi Everyone!

I am in San Francisco right now, visiting Gabe every day. It is so good to see him! He does this thing sometimes when he is exploring and lifting his fingers–at the same time, he will have his eyes kind of drowsily half-open. It strikes me as rather funny, like I wish he could see himself so he could chuckle. Every day is just a piece of the gigantic puzzle, sometimes Gabe is much more active (eyes open, hands and feet moving, yawns, other small movements) and some days he is very visibly resting pretty much all day. That is fine since all his doctors seem to be in agreement that what he needs most now is huge amounts of rest. Aside from the therapies that he receives several times every day (less often on weekends) I am content to see him resting in order to regow the connections in his brain that are so stressed. I keep my sisterly cooing to a minimum, as it’s likely he is confused by a lot of noise. I remind him a few times a day of little private Allen sibling jokes, just in case his brain can grab onto any of it, and, I suppose, mostly for my own comfort.

Other than spending time with my brother, I am enjoying my mom’s company. Hopefully she is enjoying mine too!  A trip to Muir Woods is in the works for Monday afternoon. Mom and I went before when we drove cross-country in 2004. I also get to see my good friend Jessi Leigh fairly often while I am out here, even though she is crazily busy in her last year of law school. A subgroup of her friends, along with Maine native Lily, are also wonderful companions here in SF. Tim and Matt (more Maine people, gotta love how we watch out for each other), who have the condo we’ve been staying in this week, were kind enough to clear out of here so we could have lots of space and a beautiful place to relax in. It’s on the top floor of a nice building in the Outer Sunset, three blocks away from the (foggy) beach. I don’t even know how to thank people who have been so generous, but they will be receiving huge karmic boosts from the Allen family indeed.

I’m flying back to Maine super early on Tuesday and will get back to Bangor around 8pm. Many more things need to be done before Gabe’s wicked excellent benefit party on Friday night. I have so many gourmet cupcakes and cookies coming our way from several baketastic women, and there are a bunch of people selling raffle tickets for me. Remember that the raffle will not be drawn at the party, so you can continue to buy tickets all night. There will be tons of great door prizes though. I am expecting a full house at the party and hope that everyone who wanted to come can make it, even just for a bit. Raffle tickets are still available at the following places, to the best of my knowledge:

Winterport Boot Shop in Brewer

The Clothesline, Rosie’s Diner, and The Winterport House of Pizza, all in downtown Winterport

On campus at UMaine: Marcie Noyes in Shibles Hall, Kathleen March in Little Hall, Lorelei Kennedy in Neville Hall, and Gail Belanger, Dolores Stone, or Cindy Paschal in Nutting Hall (my work building!) Also, Larry VP and Allison Melton have tickets for you hip young Bangorians.

There are still raffle donations and door prizes coming in, I don’t have definite confirmation since I am out here, but I believe that Giacomo’s has added something to the mix, and that there may be some more jewelry items coming in from some vendors at the Common Ground Fair, where my friend Deena wore a poster with Gabe’s profile on it for two days and told his story to people, which is one of her true talents.

A hundred bazillion hugs and thank-yous to all the wonderful people who have been so supportive of Gabe and my family. You are the true meaning of community.

xoxo