Kirk Update - 11.4.08

Such a big day for Obama, the United States and The World! Congratulations to us all. Now let's get to work.

Kirk and I hung out yesterday afternoon. Discussed the election and voting. He did not vote or have an absentee ballot or anything. Which is a shame, however, he was relatively uninterested in the whole thing. I wonder if he feels like he's not a part of that anymore. I hope not. Maybe he'll be be more talkative about things since Obama has won. We'll see.

Kirk is doing REALLY well. Still improving every day. Monday he called me to ask for Courtney's cell number to wish her a happy birthday. Which doesn't seem like a big deal, but he was just so much better on the phone than he has previously been. Still slow, but with shorter silences and he stayed on topic. Yesterday he was still a little slow...almost more relaxed then slow now...but in good spirits.

Miss Kathryn Hudson came over from Alabama/Pensacola. We watched the end of Nash Bridges (hilariously awful) before watching the documentary Darkon. It's about these guys that play in a medieval LARP (live action role play) universe. They dress and speak like they assume knights once did. And battle with foam swords. Somewhat touching, mostly miserably sad, but I still recommend seeing it. If only for the 90 second clip of a 4 year old, dressed as a knight for Halloween, going CRAZY with his sword and shield. Very impressive.

Kathryn couldn't stay long so we said our goodbyes and watched The Prestige. Which, if you haven't had the pleasure, I suggest you get up right now and go watch. It's pretty rock solid from top to bottom. Don't be one of those "I knew he was Tyler Durden" people either. The plot dominates. Kirk and I had a pretty in-depth discussion about the mirroring of the two magician characters (it's about magicians), their stories and personal losses, etc.

More and more we're having as complex discussions about movies as we used to. Time travel, teleportation, etc. I hope the growing strength of his arguments is telling of his physical condition. He did get up from the couch on his own, go to the bathroom and return in a reasonable amount of time. Which is just the most bizarre thing to want to tell someone...haha...but it's just another improvement I've noticed. I had to stop myself from mentioning it to him when he returned to the couch for fear of embarrassing him. Though Kirk's definitely all stocked up on humility.

I left shortly after the end of the movie. I had a discussion with the rest of the Lawrences on my way out about Obama's chances. I tried to assure everyone that it was definitely going to happen. They've been just as unsure as I've tried to force myself to be lately. I'm glad everything has worked out so far. January can't come fast enough.

A couple new names on The List this time. As always, if you haven't been to kirklawrence.blogspot.com you can catch up on all previous updates and find a link to Kirk's Flickr page. If you have any photos of Kirk that you can share for the page, just get them to me or Joe.

Peace out my soon-to-be-unified-under-a-proud-flag-again brothers and sisters.

-John