Hello everyone, I hope you’re having a lovely morning/afternoon/evening! This week was pretty eventful. I had musical rehearsal nearly every day and a few bonus events such as appointments and even a long, 14-hour day. It was also my first week without my sling, and it felt so liberating!

On Sunday, I watched our church’s live stream with my sisters at home. Sunday was World Down Syndrome Day, so I wore mismatched socks to commemorate it! I also celebrated my little brother and his uniqueness a little more. I tried a sweet potato with brown sugar at lunch, but I got too big of a piece and didn’t like it after a while, but I might try it again! In the afternoon, I did some blog work, watched YouTube, and baked blueberry pancakes with my sister, Briana! The pancakes were… interesting, to say the least, but they tasted yummy, so that’s what matters. In the evening, I played some Minecraft with my brothers for the first time in forever, which I really enjoyed.

I had my first day without my sling on Monday! It felt so good to finally be free and be able to wear my backpack with both straps. Throughout the day, I kept randomly smiling because I felt so happy. Thank goodness we had to wear masks at school; people would have thought I was going insane. I worked on my current WIP during the school day and even did some student council president business which made me feel successful and like I was doing something right. During my last period of the day, I had a yearbook meeting and forgot I was supposed to try on a costume… oopsie. When I got home, I went on TikTok for a long while and even drew a bit for the first time in forever. That night, my sisters and I watched the first episode of Falcon and The Winter Soldier. It was different for sure, but throughout the differences, it was nice to still see the familiar faces of Sam and Bucky.

On Tuesday, we had a debate in my first-period class. It was about the pros and cons of technology in our community, and my team was arguing the cons. That afternoon, my school held a concert in the parking lot for a musician who had performed many times in years past. During the show, I came to a bold epiphany. I wanted to start breaking out of my shell more. Who cares if others see me as weird or odd? Who cares if others judge me for having fun and being myself? Someday folks who love me for me are gonna come into my life and love my silliness, my ‘weirdness,’ and everything that others may judge me for. After the concert, we only had a half-hour or so left in the school day, and I worked on my WIP while eating raspberry oatmeal. When I got home, I continued working on my WIP. I also watched a bit of YouTube and finished up my drawing from the day before. I was super tired at around 11:30 and couldn’t wait to go to bed.

Wednesday was pretty much just study halls. I already only have two classes on Wednesdays, but about half of my schoolmates were gone due to SATs, so we didn’t even do much in those classes. That afternoon, I went to physical therapy, where I was introduced to more exercises. I even got to use one of the machines! Throughout the day, I did some creative work and worked on my WIP. In just one day, I had written around 6,000 words in my book! Now, my high score remains at 12,000, but I was still very proud of myself.

On Thursday, my math classes ended about an hour early, so I got a lot of writing done! For Theology class that day, two of my friends were ‘teaching,’ aka just selecting the videos we were supposed to watch and briefly explaining what was happening. During lunch, I had an impromptu, mini Student Council meeting where we discussed an upcoming event. That afternoon, I left pretty early for a follow-up appointment at the hospital regarding my shoulder. There, I came to the conclusion that the hospital is a vibe. I also learned that I have no movement restrictions for my shoulder, but I just can’t lift anything more than 3-5 pounds. I had musical rehearsal that day, where I, along with two others, recorded a submission for a high school musical theater award show nomination. It was a really exciting opportunity, but I don’t have much confidence in myself; we’ll just have to see what happens! During the last half hour or so of rehearsal, I worked with a dog again, and I’m slowly getting better! When I got home, I wasted a lot of time on Instagram and TikTok, but after dinner, I filmed two videos for my YouTube channel! Psst: they’re up on my channel; you can go check them out! That night, Briana and I made mac’n cheese at around 11:00… it was a really bad idea.

Friday was a reeaaallllyyy long day. I had school (where we did a service project the entire day), I had musical rehearsal for three hours, and then I stayed after to help decorate for a student-council planned game night for middle school… it was a lot. In the morning, my homeroom teacher brought Executive Student Council some Starbucks to help fuel us for the long, 14-hour day ahead. However, I didn’t realize that she was getting us coffee in the morning, so I made my own coffee… long story short, I drank two whole cups of coffee in an hour. The junior/senior classes left at around 9:00 am or so for our service project. While we were working, I talked with my friends quite a bit, I watched a piano get demolished, and a few friends and I even took some mirror selfies with an old mirror by the dumpster. When we returned to school, I immediately went to musical rehearsal, where we repeated and practiced the same two scenes or so. Once rehearsal was over, the Student Council members who had stayed to decorate went to a classroom, ate some Chick-Fil-A that my friend had picked up, then went straight back to decorating. I began to stress a bit about 30 minutes before kids were supposed to arrive, which was not very fun, but everything turned out fine! The game night was successful, and I even had quite a bit of fun during the event. Afterward, I was super tired and just wanted to go home but had to clean up. I got back home at around 9:45 pm, finished my Chick-Fil-A sandwich, then watched the first fifteen minutes or so of Sleeping Beauty with my sisters.

On Saturday, I woke up pretty late due to my long, tiring previous day, but I was still pretty productive! I re-filmed a video (I had accidentally deleted it), and I edited both videos. Fun fact: they’re both live on my YouTube channel so feel free to go check them out! Once I finished editing, I watched some YouTube and relaxed. That night at dinner, we had burgers which made me so excited I could barely function. I love burgers. After dinner, I laid on the floor for a while, then fooled around with my sister before going to bed, exhausted.

That concludes my week! I had a lot of events and various appointments this week, but I made it. I hope you all had lovely weeks as well, and feel free to share a few highlights in the comments if you want! I wish you all splendid weeks ahead and hope that you find something magical in every day. As always, keep on inspiring folks and loving yourself!