Today, I gave my last lecture. Of this semester. There will be a summer school in May. Exams. And then, this academic year will be over. The summer ahead already promises to be really busy. I am sure it will be over in a wink. Life after the summer will be very different, in many way.

These days, something is changing with Pádraig. I would not be surprised if he started to talk or move around. Slowly and unspectacular in a way, but super-spectacular under the circumstances. The last month has been up-setting and was marked by a distinct absence of routine. That’ll come back and on the back of it, we will do and try out many new things. Things Pádraig hasn’t done for a long time. Yesterday’s visit to the park was just the beginning.

There will also be more time, to write the Cape Cod Story. To put An Saol back on track. To have good times with friends. To make New Memories. So that it won’t be always looking back, crying my eyes out for what is lost. Because that is lost and gone. Tomorrow is waiting for us. For the Dreamboaters.

Sunny Sunday. So we went out for a walk. The new wheelchair is absolutely amazing. It almost rolls by itself. Unless you are a wheelchair expert, you would probably not appreciate the difference between wheelchairs. I remember that when we asked for a new wheelchair for Pádraig, even the physios in the Schön-Klinik did not immediately see the point – we were concert about the size. But it’s not just the size. This new wheelchair doesn’t just fit so much better, it also moves so much smoother.

The result: we went further then we ever went before on our walk today. Into a park. Up to a weir of the river Wandse, running through a little valley not too far away from our apartment. It was brilliant. The first time in almost two years, Pádraig saw a river, heard water running through a weir, heard the wind in the trees and bushes. It made me start planning our summer and getting really excited – I can just imagine what it did to Pádraig.

There are many many details from our visit to Boston and Cape Cod that I want to write about. It’ll take a bit of time because some of it is complex. But there are a few things we learnt that are important to know in relation to what happened to Pádraig and also so very important to know for all the thousands of students going on a J1 to the US, and for parents sending off their children to work in the US for the summer.

Not tonight, but sometime soon.

Plans to catch up with some details on the trip to Boston, on the lessons learned are not working out yet. Between our ‘stand-in’ returning back to Dublin today and some of Pádraig’s friends visiting this afternoon, the day just went past flying.

Pádraig is doing well. He is really alert. This afternoon, he held both hands together and lifted up and lowered down both of this lower arms. There is so much going on that I had not noticed so clearly but now do notice, not having seen him for a few days. Pádraig is noticing so much more than before, he is so much more alert and interested and responsive that I an convinced that he will make much more progress, now that there will be no more (planned) operations.

This afternoon was really nice with Pádraig’s friends being around and bringing some young energetic life to the apartment. It’s really amazing to see how well they connect, although I am sure it’s not easy for either of them.

Tomorrow week is the day of the Hamburg Marathon. There will be two of Pádraig’s friends and myself running. Please check out Andrew’s fundraising page

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Tonight was going to be the night I was going to write about the constant fight to do the right, thing.

Now my eyes are getting smaller I’m not getting any taller but curl up to sleep until the new dawn will break.

It was brilliant to see Pádraig again today. I had lost my sense of time , sense of space and location. So I wasn’t sure for how long I had not seen him. One day, on week, one month.

He is fine and getting back to normal after the operation. It will take me a bit longer, even without an opera-tion.

A(other) very short blog tonight/today from the plane back to Germany. It was a shorter visit to Boston than planned and we are on our long way back to Pádraig.

There is too much going on around me and it is too late, or is it too early, to make any sense out of it or even to write a simple account of what happened.

In a way, this visit was a return. This trip, in either direction, is a return, if you get my drift, – each to a very different kind of life.

Once the tiredness is gone, I’ll make sense of it and share that with you. Stay tuned, as they say.

Can’t wait to see Pádraig again.

Too tired and too late to do this well – so very shortly: we spent most of the day on the Cape, talking to the Mayor of Brewster, as well as the Police, and nurses in Cape Cod Hospital….

Can’t keep my eyes open. More tomorrow. We’ll be off to the airport in the morning, back in Hamburg on Friday.

It’s 03:51 in Dublin and it feels like it. Tired but not giving up, never.

Today, instead of being at a trial, we met one of the people who saw the accident. We met in a café just outside of Boston. She told us what she remembered of the accident; we told her how Pádraig was doing. She said she was thinking of and praying for Pádraig often.

In the morning, we visited one of the world’s best rehabilitation facilities, the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. We had only learned about this facility after we had arrived here, so we went there without an appointment. It was quite impressive and while we did not meet many of the people responsible for severe brain injuries, we got many contact names and their details and met the head of ‘physical therapy’. We will keep working on these contacts when we are back home. – What impressed me was their promise to “never give up” on anyone. Never.

We also had another long meeting with our attorney. Coming from Europe, it is hard to understand how issues like Pádraig’s devastating accident are dealt with in the US. Starting with the fact that insurance policies are capped at an amount that is utterly inadequate for accidents and resulting injuries as serious as Pádraig’s. The insurance available to cover the damage is a tiny fraction of what Padraig has needed and will need to cover his care. Add to that the uncertainties of a trial and you are moving in a space I personally find so hard to deal with: the need to be pragmatic and to accept that there are severe limitations to what is available is hard to accept because it is not necessarily in tune with what I would see as fair and just.

Tomorrow morning, we’ll be going out to Cape Cod. We have an appointment with the Police in Brewster and are trying to set another meeting up with the town council. The driver of the van that hit Pádraig will not be available for a meeting, unfortunately.

Not sure how tomorrow will turn out. We’ll see.

Here am I am here. The clock says 00h25, the computer says 05:25, my mind doesn’t know what that all means. When I (literally) fell asleep last night I did not sleep through. Instead, I woke up every hour or so looking for Pádraig. That I was on a different continent only dawn on me when i woke up and looked around.

It really seems that there will not be a trial. The lawyers are still negotiating and will, hopefully, be able to bring this case to some conclusion that we can all live with.

One of Pádraig’s friends had organised for her friends to meet with us while here in Boston. It is really amazing to see how much the Irish row in behind you when you’re really in trouble. They also told us how many people had heard about the accident and were, are ready to help. It is truly amazing. While there won’t be much time while we are here this time, we will follow up on our conversations here with our friends, and will work with them to raise the level of awareness about the consequences of severe bicycle accidents, and the lack of neuro-rehabilitation programs in Ireland.

You couldn’t imagine how strange these days here in Boston feel. For so many different reasons. We will have more meetings with different parties over the next two days.

Tiredness is catching up on me…

Just a very short, early morning post.

We arrived well in Boston. There will be not trial tomorrow, but negotiations between the attorneys. We’ll see tomorrow…

More tomorrow.