Comedy Through The Chaos

Hello. I thought I would sign on and hold still for a few minutes before I started trying to fix this. I was outside, everybody, and it is blustery, as our good friend Pooh would say. It is a blustery day today. Hello, everyone. I am Miss Shannon, a variety of word related things by trade. Obviously, external kite flyer as well. But I focus in the world of being a comedian, a corporate speaker, a voice actor, an event MC and a benefit auctioneer. I will be benefit auctioneering later this evening.

But I join you on Thursdays to help you on this journey of being caregivers with some comments from the perspective of comedy through the chaos where I use laughter to help frame things and not that I think things are funny in the midst all the time but they do help me kind of work through things more quickly. So welcome to caregiver If you are joining us on a Thursday, if you're joining us in the future, welcome wherever you're joining us from. A couple of things. I am always very interested in this time of season for me.

This is my busy spring season, but it's also one of my most rewarding times of year because I get to hang out with some of my favorite clients. especially as an MC and a benefit auctioneer, I do a lot of fundraisers in the spring. So last night, I was honored to be at the Wingspan Life Resources fundraiser, their Power of Love Gala. They're an organization that's been here in the Twin Cities for 53 years, and they have a variety of services and group homes for our community members that have a variety of different disabilities, developmental and otherwise.

And When they first asked me to do this event a couple of years ago, I had heard of services like theirs, but I wasn't really familiar with them specifically. And I'll be honest with you, as the mom of an adorable now 18 year old kiddo who happens to be high supports on the autism spectrum, last night, one of the things I was most proud about being able to say is, You know, I'm very fortunate that I am resourced in a way that my kiddo gets to hang out with me. And I really want him to be able to have this be his forever home.

I've done a bunch of modifications in the house to be able to have that be the goal. But I do understand that life does what life does. And there might be situations down the road that end up outside of my control where he isn't able to stay in this particular home. And it's being involved with organizations like Wingspan that really give me that piece to go, there are some really good people and really good places that are helping our community members. And I want to say that from the perspective of when we hear about some of these locations, I think we always come to it from a position of, oh, that can't be a good place for them, other places that help support and provide care when they're not in home.

And then you learn about places like Wingspan Life Resources. You learn about here in the Twin Cities, you have a place called Mora, Mount Olivet Rolling Acres. And I'm just really glad that they are there for families who do need that additional support when it gets to a place where, for instance, they told a wonderful story last night of this gentleman named Tommy, who's been living in one of their facilities, I think they said since 2017. because that got to the point where he wasn't able to live independently anymore.

And so it's just beautiful to see how his housemates, how the person who's in charge of the home that he lives in, they say they call her Captain Brenda and she was beautiful and was there as well. To see how different components in our society can help support us. And so I bring that up for a couple of things. To kind of mention, again, which I say often, you don't have to do everything yourself, even if you're like me and Little Miss Overachiever, I'm going to bring this in real quick into the frame.

They had their silent auction. And one of the things they had was a variety of these adorable birdhouses. And I just had to. So there's the first one. I'll show you the other two throughout our chat today. So I'll give you another look. We'll go back this way. Isn't it adorable? That's gonna look it outside. So I got two more. So we'll have more of that. As someone like me who was not as familiar with some of the group homes that are in town, it's also good for me to get to know the staff that are at these different places because I'm very much, hey, I'll do it myself.

But it's good to know that there are some places out there that do a wonderful job for people regardless of where they are. Because maybe They're in a situation where the people that work with them at the group home are their only family. Maybe they're in a situation where their family is involved and they're supporting them. There are a number of people that are in that situation where maybe it was a sibling and they're both at a certain age where it makes sense for them to have additional supports rather than have it just be the sibling.

And it's good that they have something for everybody and they work with it and it's very person centered, which I think is what we really want. I think that's why a lot of us end up trying to do it ourselves, is that you're worried that somebody else isn't going to do it as well as you do. And so it's good to see some of those places that have support. I am a great example of that recently because yesterday was my meeting with my kiddo's care team at school. He's going to be moving into his 12th grade year next year, Mr.

Big Guy. And so we had his IEP, his individualized education plan meeting yesterday. And, I've been doing these meetings for, geez, since he was 7. I think I've been meeting with the school once a year. And there's years where it's a lot more joyous than others. And lately, he's been doing really well. And so I've also been fortunate because he has just organically been surrounded by some wonderful people. And I know from anecdotal experience with some other people in my circle where that is not always the case.

So I come to this from a position of privilege that I've always been very fortunate that his care team outside of the home have been very, very good and very open to figuring out what works best for him. But yesterday was different. And the reason it was different, because normally it's me, And it's been me pretty much going it alone with his school team for as long as I've been doing this. It's me showing up, talking to all the teachers. And yesterday, as I was preparing for this, I got two requests and I talked to, he has a behavioral therapist, that I talk to on an almost weekly basis where she basically is a therapist that helps me learn how to do what I do better as I'm interacting with him.

Like sometimes it's good lessons about sometimes less is more with the words, mom. Maybe you need to figure out some other way to help him move forward. And so she's been instrumental over the last couple of years with keeping us both grounded and helping us move forward. And so That was great. And so when I told her that the IEP meeting, the individualized education plan meeting was coming up, she said, I'm, when is it? I'm available. I'll make sure I attend. And not only does she say who she's going to attend, she made her point to attend in person, which means A lot.

And the other thing is that he has a very good, because of the way that his additional services are funded, he has a case manager that I, again, am usually the one that works with. And she got an invite from the school and had never attended before and doesn't always get to attend with everybody, but she emailed me as well. And she said, hey, I got this invite. She got it kind of last minute because the schools are complicated and they were having a hard time figuring out the date. But she said, I can be available as an in person.

I said, well, I'm going to be in person and his behavior is just coming in person, but I don't want to put you out. And she said, I'll be there in person too. And that meant a lot to me. I don't even know how important it was to have two other people who have watched his journey. Perimenopause, he just cried, a drop of a hat. But I didn't know how important it was to be to have these people who have been background player supports for me to be there to help me articulate what his needs are. I'm very encouraged as we move into this 12th grade year, but I think we all understand that this could be one of those pivotal years for him to try and set him up success as we transition out of the traditional, even though he's in a SPED program school system, and to set him up for success as we move into his young adulthood.

So to have these two women who have heard me work with them over the time period and actually go, yeah, we're gonna be here too. And if you have a hard time explaining this to school and coming up with the right words, these are two people that are very accomplished with that. And it was so great to have them there. And so I tell you this full story here. I'll grab another one of these as we move on. I told you they're so cute. That's why I ended up buying three of them. I tell you this whole thing because maybe you're like me and you're not good at asking for help and you're not good at accepting help, which is almost just as hard sometimes for some of us.

That when somebody offered, I immediately defaulted to, I don't want to put them out. You don't have to drive over here. I can handle it because I have handled it. But when they're going, no, we're not put out, we want to support and we want to set them up for success. That means a lot. So if you have some people in your circle who are willing to do that for you, don't feel bad that you're putting them out. Let them step in, be gracious, honor what they're willing to do for you and go, that's okay 'cause we probably are carrying a lot more than we need to carry all by ourselves.

So it's good to have somebody remind us of that and maybe I'm the person that's reminding you right now. It's going to be a great evening. This evening, I'm very fortunate. C. Lippold, who we know from here in the cadre sphere. He's going to be the emcee at an event that I'm going to be the auctioneer for this evening, a wonderful organization called ACEs for Kids. So it's athletes that work together to not only provide athletic coaching and outings and those kind of things, they're really focused on working with our young people to make sure that they get the right tutoring and school support system that they know.

So we have those good people in our community. And sometimes you just have to slow down a little bit to find them and see what that is. Because sometimes we all need a little reminder that somebody else is going through things and it may not be exactly what you're going through, but they're willing to support you and they're willing to step up when you need them. And maybe that is what we do for you here in the cadre sphere. Maybe we are another little safe haven for you. Maybe we are something that's a little bit of whimsy in your life when it was a difficult day.

Maybe we are just somebody that said, you know what? Everybody take a big breath in and a big breath out. And that's what we do here together. So I will let you know how the next couple of events go. And we will probably check in hopefully this Saturday for the Saturday edition of Comedy Through the Chaos. I am always very grateful to be able to be a part of whatever it is that you're going through. So please let me know if there's something else I could share. So you can do that, drop it in the chat, you can always send us an e-mail, wanna schedule a little time, let us know how that works, pop around, see the rest of our friends that are here in the Cadre Sphere.

And you're doing a good job, whether it feels like it sometimes or not. So I hope that the day is treating you well. If not, shame on it, not shame on you. Be well, everybody. I'll see you back here on Saturday.