How did I choose to be in the CA Residential Program? I recall in the first blog I wrote, it ended up being about my residential experience and the steps my family and I took to get me there. The experience has been such a tremendous journey and the best part was finding other people who understood what it was like living in my shoes. What I mean by this was that most of the people I had met back home weren’t on the spectrum. When I moved to the CA House, it was filled with a bunch of people I had met either in passing or had a fulfilling conversation with months prior to moving in. There was a lot to consider when moving in and the risk factors to consider as well.
The experience has been such a tremendous journey and the best part was finding other people who understood what it was like living in my shoes.
Moving has never been the easiest thing to do. However, once I get situated in a place, I tend to enjoy it much more than I initially expected. It was something that required thorough planning and understanding of what I was going to be getting into. My brother was the one that initially found the location through a friend and brought it up to my parents privately. They didn’t want to get my hopes up if this location turned out to be a choice we didn’t go with.
When I went to the house a bit later in the late spring, it was majestic. I was visiting during the program’s open house that year, which was a wonderful way to learn about the people, environment and what I would be living in for quite a bit of time. A new place in a new city that I had only visited when my brother went to college around the area. It was a big house full of people and excitement, at least to me it was. From an outside perspective, I may have appeared detached, yet I was filled to the brim with the wonders of what I was taking in going on around me. I met one of my closest friends at the open house and we talked about everything under the sun, and yet we still have so much to discuss even to this day. It makes me proud to have moved into the CA Adult Programs house. Soon, I will be taking my next steps towards the goal of independence.
I’ve graduated from the program and while change is scary and not at all easy, it’s time for me to continue on to the next level of my adventure. I am moving out of the CA and into an apartment of my own. I am on to the next stage, another journey.
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