Ojai Change Day

Ojai Change Day is what we call a "jazzy-ism."  When you have become proficient in speaking Jazz, then you can actually understand what she is trying to say to you or expalin to you.  I have dedicated this blog to telling the stories that my family and myself have collected over the years during our journey as we raise an adopted child with severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).  My little sister is the most important person in my life and has changed my life in all ways and always for the better.  I hope you enjoy our stories as much as we have enjoyed making them with Jazz.

Now, back to my main point in today's blog about today's Jazz story.  Jazz is currently 11 years old, but is in reality only about 4 years old, so you can imagine the struggles we come across day to day.  We were driving home after dinner, and like most children, she was trying to explain to me through red eyes and deep yawns that she was not tired nor was it her bed time.  Her main argument was that due to the recent time change, it was not actually as late as it appeared to be outside.  So, while it appeared to be after 8 o'clock, it was actually only 7 o'clock according to the clock in the car.  She however, cannot put this into such clear terms and so it came out something like this:

• It looks like its like 8 but its 7 so its not my bedtime.
• you know why its different
• because of ojai change day.  its really silly that ojai does that.

In Jazz's head, the only place in the world that converts their clocks, is apparently her home town of Ojai!

She really thought that no one else had to do the same thing.  It was a moment of childhood innocence that made me so happy and peaceful to bask in.  I then explained that everyone in the US had to change their clocks and everyone in the US saw that it looked different outside after this happens.  When she asked why we had to do that, we laughed and said it's a long story.  You find that most explanations are a long story when you have a child with TBI...

My mom quickly pointed out that her funny word choices/order were not the funniest point of this story.  The funniest part was that we actually understood what she was trying to tell us even though we were only given three fragmented sentences to work with.  We are indeed fluent in Jazz.  And as you read more of these stories, you will find out exactly how important it is to be fluent in Jazz.

Much Love!