Nick often catches us off guard with the things that he says. The other morning he was still in his bed. Arden had gone in and woke him up to give him the morning seizure meds. Nick kept trying to lay down on his pillow after Arden had sat him up. Finally Arden said, “Are you tired? Do you want to go back to bed?” Looking relieved, Nick slowly said, “Yes.” and he immediately slumped over onto his pillow, while lifting his legs onto his bed. It was great that Arden noticed, and moved back, or he would have been kicked.
A short time later, Arden peered through the bedroom doorway to see if Nick needed anything. We are always concerned when Nick seems overly tired as this condition has often precipitated his cluster seizures. Nick must have heard Arden approaching. Just as Arden’s head appeared in the open doorway, with a half smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye, Nick raised up his pointer finger towards his father and said, “Beat it, Dad!”
Arden and I could barely contain our laughter. It was so funny and so appropriate. It wasn’t a phrase that we had ever heard him use before. That was part of the surprise.
Nick doesn’t always behave like a 37 year old man, but he certainly does some times. We then get a glimpse of his sense of humor.
How often do we want to send a well-wisher away when we just want to be left alone for a little while. I know that Nick does appreciate what we do to care for him. He often will thank us for doing the little things. However this particular morning, he just wanted to sleep in and not be bothered by his parents.
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