Before I talk about Vernon, I want to make one last little plug for his fundraiser this weekend.
I think it will be a great community get-together and a lot of talented people have donated their handmade goodness.
San Clemente Art Supply —1531 N El Camino Real, San Clemente, California—Fri: 6-9 Fri party with music and refreshments. Sat: 10-6 shop all day.
Here are some of the paintings I’ll have on sale. Come grab a bargain!
When I told Vernon the other day that friends were organizing a craft market for him, he lifted his eyebrows and said: “What do they need me to make for it?”
“You don’t understand, Honey. It’s to raise money for you. Not for you to donate to.”
“Why should they want to raise money for me?”
“Well, because you haven’t been working. And you shouldn’t need to worry about working right now either.”
“Of course I can work! I was working this morning.”
And so goes many of our conversations. A little reality, a little fantasy, connecting as much as possible in the common ground between. Its taking him a while to understand his predicament, but lately I’m realizing this may be a blessing.
I believe most of the trauma occurred on the left side of Vernon’s brain. It is generally understood that the left hemisphere of the brain controls the right side of the body and the right controls the left. It’s been obvious for awhile that Vernon’s left side has come back to movement much better than the right. He is able to write his name with his left hand now and gesture very smoothly with his left arm. But he still favors the right side, protecting it as if it was the broken arm (it wasn’t.) The legs are another story for another time.
Although some say science doesn’t actually prove that the right/left-brain behaviorisms are based in the hemispheres of the brain, its long been accepted in popular culture that that the Right tends to be more creative, thoughtful, and subjective while the Left is more logical, analytical, detail-oriented. With Vernon as a guinea-pig, I would say this is most likely true. His right-brain is strong and kicking these days. And the left? Well, not so much.
Now Vernon has always been a creative guy, and intuitive and conceptual thinker, so a lot of his personality is clearly there. If anything, it just seems heightened by the fact that the practical side hasn’t quite emerged or caught up. It is a lot of fun to talk to Vernon…he has an answer for everything, even if he is making it up. He can talk about his feelings in very sweet way, especially when it comes to the children. He is very romantic when he talks about the early days of our relationship, letting me in on little secrets of what in his mind that he has never told me before. I have no idea if those were his true thoughts then or not, but it is lovely to hear now.
As his personality gets smoother, with slightly less agitated and confused glitches, I realize it is probably working out MUCH better that it was the left side of his head that was most affected. He is generally happy, though he does get bored easily. It’s as if he’s in a sort of lucid dream, in terms of his mood. He knows where he is but he is choosing to just accept the strangeness of it all rather than try to work out the details, to figure it all out. I can imagine that if thing went the other way, if it was the left side that became dominant, he would struggling with his circumstances a lot more, especially without his memory to help him connect the dots.
I trust the left will slowly re-awaken. Though Vernon was probably a right-dominated personality before, he had an incredibly rich mind, and that included a strong logic and sense of details. He was a font-designer, after all. You need to be pretty detail-oriented for that!
But in the meantime, I’m thankful that he’s enjoying his present state as much as possible, it makes it more enjoyable for me too…because I am a bit of a dreamer myself.
Here is a fun little online quiz to see if you what side of your brain is more dominant.
(Thanks, Kirsten Ford, for visiting with us today and taking these pictures.)
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Such sweet pictures of you too. Wish we could be there for the fund raiser. It sounds great and I haven’t done any Christmas shopping yet. We continue to pray for you ALL.
firstly Allison i hope the fundraiser goes really well over the weekend, i`m sure all your talented friends and family have donated some beautiful creations , that will be admired and bought, will be thinking about you all over the Friday/Saturday xx
Do i see Vern flirting with his wife in those photos?? i know a flirty “Vern” smile when i see one!! this is just so wonderful to see (please thank Kirsten for taking them)..just uplifting to see you both smiling together..what a wonderful way to start the day (friday morning here now), may there be many more photos like this to share xx love and hugs to you all xx
ps do know a little about the left/right brain, with both my boys being on the autistic spectrum … i will have a go at your “fun” online quiz.. maybe all the family could do it?? , that will be some interesting reading xx
Flirting? Not this time…we were laughing when he said under his breath “shame about the music…” They were playing very old fashioned sounding tunes on a stereo in the dining hall right then. It just struck me as so funny.
yep that is funny ..hugs xx
Beautiful paintings! Have a great craft fair! It’s so interesting with the left and the right side of the brain! One thing is for certain: people who are not “mathematical” (or use logic) are thinking more in pictures and enjoy pictures more and learn from visual thinking/visualization. But not sure what part of the brain they use. It’s probably very complicated! Lots of love
Hello Allison, I’ve been following your blog since day one. I live in Prescott so I’m unable to make it to your art show. I’m very much interested in the painting that you posted especially the Brownie camera. Is it one picture by itself or is it all four pictures as one picture! Please advise and let me know how much.
Praying!
No need to ship, my daughter lives in SC. I would like the red high heeled shoe too!
i emailed you earlier. I hope you got it. The shoe sold but I could do something similar for you if you let me know soon. let me know if you got the email first. xo
I can’t wait to see these in person!
I’m always facinated with the brain stuff, I cant tell you how many https://www.coursera.org/ classes I have dropped in to learn about this stuff. I wish I had 48 hrs of daylight to burn so I could do it all. Blessing the creative side was less impacted eh?
What an uplifting blog!!! I have also followed you daily since the accident and claim part of the reason for Vernon’s healing……..and your endurance. (Actually, I probably prayed for you many more times than I can remember, due to your dear Grandma!) I pray your art show will bring many much needed dollars your way….too far to come from Colorado!
Way too funny to take the “brain test.” I looked like I’m 68% left brained….however, since you would not remember me, I’ll tell you I was born with only my left hand…..very right brained in every way. Just to say that the test may be accurate after all, I have had doctors and those who study such things tell me that when it appears I got short-changed by not having my right hand, God did what He so skillfully does….He made me strong on both sides….I have yet to note if I really DO have that gift of true logic….although I am very detailed. (And you have not already guessed that from my comment?) (^_^)
Yes Allison I would like a painting with the Red Shoe.