Chapter 1: Self-Soothing Boxes
One mild last Monday of April 2021, I met up with my childhood friends Sarah, James, and Henri at the Robert Morris University campus in Moon Township for a lesson on self-soothe toys. "Hi, guys!" I greeted my friends. "Hi, Angel!" Sarah greeted back. "Isn't this a nice campus, or what?" James asked. "I think it is," Henri agreed. "I miss events like baseball games and concerts," James stated. "Like the baseball game at your high school, James?" I asked. "Yes, Angel," James replied. "I also miss school dances, like the one I took Betsy out to." "And, let's not forget about Boy Scout meetings," Henri added. "We have some better things to talk about than just our high school and college experiences," Sarah reminded me. "Oh, yeah," I remembered. "How does Robert Morris University even compare to Carnegie Mellon University?" "Well, a professor from this college is going to show us a video of how to make our own self-soothing boxes," Sarah told me. "Well, I brought some fidget toys to help me cope," I pointed out. After the college professor showed us the video, she gave us some ideas of what to put in our self-soothe box. Some ideas for each of our boxes were group pictures of us together, pictures of beaches at places we like to go to including La Jolla, California and Walt Disney World, soothing music (mainly either jazz, soul, R&B, or Latin-American music), soft blankets and pillows, sweet-smelling perfume, and healthy snacks, like whole-wheat bread, cottage cheese, carrot sticks, and banana slices. I even put some of my egg shakers into the self-soothe box. We decorated our boxes with pretty shapes and colors that reminded us of our self-care items. Once we were done making our boxes, James and Henri drove me and Sarah back to our condominium in Squirrel Hill. "Thanks for a great day, everyone!" I thanked my friends. "You're welcome, Angel," Sarah replied. "Bye, guys!" "Bye!"