TOGETHER at a – Bushwalla - concert!!!
This is gonna be a ‘Thank you’-blog for Bushwalla, André and Emile and his family.
Because Bushwalla can’t read any Duth (besides Gerrit Komrij ;)) I’m gonna write it in English this time.
(For everyone who read more off my blogs and already knows about José’s TBI, and how we live with that: you can skip this first piece of text)
(José made the picture that is why he isn't in it)
Where do I start, well first of all I have to explain that José has TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) you can’t see it on his outside but it has a great impact on our lives.
In short what happened : Eleven years ago José had an accident while playing soccer, he fell with his head on the shoulder of a fellow player and had a skull fracture. It looked like he recovered quickly although he suffered of severe headaches 24/7, and had some other problems, after almost a year his problems got really worse, for example ; if he walked out of our street he didn’t know how to find his way home again...
After that it took us more then four years to find out that all his problems were related to the accident at the soccerfield and that he had TBI.
From there on we tried a lot (and I really do mean a lot) off things that could help coping with his TBI, we adjusted our live together to what worked for him ; and that meant that there was a lot that we couldn’t do anymore.
Finally in the end of 2011 we found our way to a rehabilitation centre that was specialized in TBI.
They did a neuropsychological test and we found out that there was more damage in his brain then we thought it was...
He started there with a rehabilitation program; wich included the ´activities weigher´.
That means that we have to plan every half our of his day, and every activity costs some points and you can only use so much points on a day...
It also meant that we had to adjust our lives even more, and in order for José to feel better it also meant that whe could do less together, because he is incentive hypersensitive and together means always more incentives.
So even an hour together on the sofa in the evening wasn’t naturally….we even had to plan those kind of ‘normal’ things…
(I had to explain this story a little, because otherwise you cannot understand how special July 7th was for us J)
Then now Bushwalla:
Two years ago our friend André called and said he was going to a LRC (Living Room Concert) from Bushwalla; and that he thought that maybe José could join him. It wouldn’t be loud, not to many people an he would be there with him.
José decided to give it a try (I decided then to stay home with our, little, children so that he had more quiescence)
When he came home he was so happy and said that Bushwalla gave him such a positive vibe and that was noticeable for months…..
And then a few months ago came an e-mail from Emile that there was going to be another LRC on the 7th & 8th of july.
José almost immediatly said that he wanted to go there with me and our three KiDS...
After the pain and grief over all the things we can’t do together anymore, this sounded like the thing we could need….and something that could be possible…
So we decided to save some money and just try it….
We would plan the weeks before and after as quiescent as possible so we could do this TOGETHER!!!
And then it was the 7th of July …
At 19.00 hours we got in our car (José with his ear-plugs in so that he wouldn’t waist any points before arriving at Utrecht) and I drove to Utrecht.
Our KiDS were all excited and a little bit nervous about going to a concert and meeting the man who they heard singing on their CD so many times….
A little bit after 20.00 we arrived, and were welcomed by Emile who organizes these LRC’s. It was as little as José had told me, our children all happy because they had a front-row-seat (there where only 3 rows ;))
Then after a while Bushwalla came in the room and I saw the twinkling in the eyes of our children and José...I knew we were going to enjoy this....
And that we did...he played a lot of our favourite songs, he was funny, made us laugh (even our children who can’t speak so much english) and had a lot of interaction with his audience including us....
Our girls gave him our croceted (Bumble)Bee Love and we took a picture together...
Afterwards we spoke a little and he even remebered that he sang ’500 miles’ with Andre for José when he was going to walk his pelgrimage... (the video is still on our website)
This night was so special, it was a night full of music, positivity, laughter and TOGETHERNESS especially for José our KiDS (Kanoa, Dyaluna en Sueña) and me.
I can’t put in words what it meant for us to be there and enjoy this TOGETHER...
I wanna thank Bushwalla, André and Emile, with all my heart, for making, something that we thougt wasn’t possible anymore (going to a concert together), possible!!!
I’m sure we’ll meet again....who knows maybe next time in our LRC ;)
B♥
This is gonna be a ‘Thank you’-blog for Bushwalla, André and Emile and his family.
Because Bushwalla can’t read any Duth (besides Gerrit Komrij ;)) I’m gonna write it in English this time.
(For everyone who read more off my blogs and already knows about José’s TBI, and how we live with that: you can skip this first piece of text)
(José made the picture that is why he isn't in it)
Where do I start, well first of all I have to explain that José has TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) you can’t see it on his outside but it has a great impact on our lives.
In short what happened : Eleven years ago José had an accident while playing soccer, he fell with his head on the shoulder of a fellow player and had a skull fracture. It looked like he recovered quickly although he suffered of severe headaches 24/7, and had some other problems, after almost a year his problems got really worse, for example ; if he walked out of our street he didn’t know how to find his way home again...
After that it took us more then four years to find out that all his problems were related to the accident at the soccerfield and that he had TBI.
From there on we tried a lot (and I really do mean a lot) off things that could help coping with his TBI, we adjusted our live together to what worked for him ; and that meant that there was a lot that we couldn’t do anymore.
Finally in the end of 2011 we found our way to a rehabilitation centre that was specialized in TBI.
They did a neuropsychological test and we found out that there was more damage in his brain then we thought it was...
He started there with a rehabilitation program; wich included the ´activities weigher´.
That means that we have to plan every half our of his day, and every activity costs some points and you can only use so much points on a day...
It also meant that we had to adjust our lives even more, and in order for José to feel better it also meant that whe could do less together, because he is incentive hypersensitive and together means always more incentives.
So even an hour together on the sofa in the evening wasn’t naturally….we even had to plan those kind of ‘normal’ things…
(I had to explain this story a little, because otherwise you cannot understand how special July 7th was for us J)
Then now Bushwalla:
Two years ago our friend André called and said he was going to a LRC (Living Room Concert) from Bushwalla; and that he thought that maybe José could join him. It wouldn’t be loud, not to many people an he would be there with him.
José decided to give it a try (I decided then to stay home with our, little, children so that he had more quiescence)
When he came home he was so happy and said that Bushwalla gave him such a positive vibe and that was noticeable for months…..
And then a few months ago came an e-mail from Emile that there was going to be another LRC on the 7th & 8th of july.
José almost immediatly said that he wanted to go there with me and our three KiDS...
After the pain and grief over all the things we can’t do together anymore, this sounded like the thing we could need….and something that could be possible…
So we decided to save some money and just try it….
We would plan the weeks before and after as quiescent as possible so we could do this TOGETHER!!!
And then it was the 7th of July …
At 19.00 hours we got in our car (José with his ear-plugs in so that he wouldn’t waist any points before arriving at Utrecht) and I drove to Utrecht.
Our KiDS were all excited and a little bit nervous about going to a concert and meeting the man who they heard singing on their CD so many times….
A little bit after 20.00 we arrived, and were welcomed by Emile who organizes these LRC’s. It was as little as José had told me, our children all happy because they had a front-row-seat (there where only 3 rows ;))
Then after a while Bushwalla came in the room and I saw the twinkling in the eyes of our children and José...I knew we were going to enjoy this....
And that we did...he played a lot of our favourite songs, he was funny, made us laugh (even our children who can’t speak so much english) and had a lot of interaction with his audience including us....
Our girls gave him our croceted (Bumble)Bee Love and we took a picture together...
Afterwards we spoke a little and he even remebered that he sang ’500 miles’ with Andre for José when he was going to walk his pelgrimage... (the video is still on our website)
This night was so special, it was a night full of music, positivity, laughter and TOGETHERNESS especially for José our KiDS (Kanoa, Dyaluna en Sueña) and me.
I can’t put in words what it meant for us to be there and enjoy this TOGETHER...
I wanna thank Bushwalla, André and Emile, with all my heart, for making, something that we thougt wasn’t possible anymore (going to a concert together), possible!!!
I’m sure we’ll meet again....who knows maybe next time in our LRC ;)
B♥
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