The Funny and The Sad

It’s been a mixture of funny and sad with Aaron over the past two days…..well, over the past 27 hours and 22 minutes, to be exact.  But who’s counting, right?  Oh……well, yes, Aaron does.  Count, that is.  So he would appreciate it if I would as well, thank you.  

Aaron burst in the door from the garage yesterday when he came home from his day group.  He saw me right there in the half bath/laundry room as he shot through the door.  Of course, he didn’t say hello or hi Mom or anything close to resembling a greeting.  Instead, just as he slammed the door and saw me folding laundry, he loudly said, “Mom!!  King Tut is a real person, right?!”

And so began our late afternoon and much of our evening, as well as this morning.  King Tut this and King Tut that.  Can you tell that he’s watching a movie called The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb?  I don’t recommend it.  It’s beyond lame……but it suits Aaron just fine, because King Tut comes alive and saves everyone from the monster.  The monster with wings. 

Which prompted Aaron to also ask, “You mean King Tut is a humaning being?  He’s not a monster with wings?” 

And this morning I had to watch a YouTube clip of this beyond lame movie.  I had to type Google Videos and then type The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb…..just right, because Aaron was standing over my shoulder, observing my every move.  As we scrolled down to find the right clip, Aaron saw it.  “YES!!!!  That’s it!!!!  It’s the 1:41!!!!”

Good grief, Aaron…..remember my ears close by.  And the 1:41, for you who don’t know or remember……..how could you NOT??!!.......is the length of the video.  Aaron remembers the length of video clips even better than he remembers the names.  Anyway, I endured the video clip for 1:41.  It’s pretty awful.  In fact, I think it’s under awful movie clips on YouTube, but Aaron would strongly disagree with that.

Tonight, he told Andrea on the phone about this classic movie and she told him that she would watch it with him the next time that she “comes over,” as Aaron says.  But then she added that we should make it a FAMILY movie night and all watch it together.  I may suggest that she find a new family.  Really, the movie is that awful.  That girl is in so much trouble.

Back to Aaron’s return home yesterday…. he also told me about teasing Ashley at his day group.  He seems to get great delight from teasing her, which isn’t usually a good thing with Aaron, as his teasing can be annoying and even a little mean.  The more fun HE is having, the less fun YOU are probably having.  I’ve been trying to determine if Ashley is the same Ashley he knew at a school here years ago.  I asked him yesterday what color hair Ashley has.

“She has the color of Goldilocks and the Three Bears!!” he happily said.  Of course, he can’t just say blond. 

 

On his way to bed later, as I fixed the percolator for the next morning, Aaron said he was going up to his room to get ready for bed.  He walked part-way through the family room and I heard him stop.   “Mom, is it going to rain tonight?” he asked.  This before-bed information is very important to Aaron. 

I told him that I wasn’t sure, but maybe later it would rain.  He took a couple more steps, out of my sight, and then I heard him stop again.  Pause.

“When is later?” he inquired. 

 Oh dear Aaron, you who must have an exact time for everything…..

I told him that I wasn’t sure of an exact time when later would occur, but that it just might rain…..sometime…..later.

Pause.

“Midnight?” he questioned.

When you’re in Rome…..and when you’re in Aaron’s world, do as Aaron does.  And thankfully, since I had recently looked at the radar, I could safely tell Aaron that it would not rain at midnight…..that it would rain sometime after midnight, if it rained at all……but I very carefully did not use the word “LATER” again.  Sigh.

And he was satisfied.

It was only a short time later, just after he had fallen asleep, that I heard him having a seizure in his sleep.  I stayed with him until it was over, and I prayed when I laid back down that he would not have a night full of seizures.  And he didn’t have another one……and I was so thankful……even as that little cloud of sadness hovered over my head.

We had more funny times this morning.  Aaron talked and talked about the The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb again, and of course we watched the YouTube clip.  He followed me out to the garden, where he talked more while I snipped okra off the stalks and picked a few tomatoes.  And where he breathlessly told me about Rosie eating some of the tomatoes I sent to Paradigm yesterday.

“Mom!!  Rosie ate tomatoes RAW!!”

He was so relieved when I told him that this is how we usually eat fresh tomatoes from the garden……and I learned that to him, eating them raw means that she didn’t wash them before eating them.  I already did that, I told him, and he was happy.

Then in the afternoon, while at the theater with his day group, he had another seizure…….a rare afternoon seizure.  He probably fell asleep in his chair in the dark, and then the seizure came.  Poor Aaron.  And worry and that hovering sadness was pushing the funny out of my sight.  

He was able to stay at his day group.  He called me and we talked about his seizure.  He was calm about it.  Later, I heard the door open when he got home, but he didn’t have the gusto of the day before.  He walked slowly across the kitchen and came downstairs to find me.  He was much more somber than yesterday as he walked over to me and told me that he didn’t feel very good because of his seizure.

“I guess I didn’t have much fun time in the theater because of that,” he flatly said.  

He made my heart hurt.  I agreed that it wasn’t much of a fun time for him, but that I was glad he was better now.  I was trying to soothe my own pain more than his.

“Yeah,” he said.  “I guess watching a movie today wasn’t very much fun.”

Poor Aaron, indeed.  He loves going to the movies but today he didn’t have much fun time there, for sure.  Yet it’s amazing how quickly he can bounce back…..how soon he was happy again, bending over and rubbing his hands together when I was talking to Andrea and he was trying to tell me what to tell her until I finally just let them talk……and the two of them talked the whole time Gary and I ate supper.  

Aaron is amazing in many different ways, but his ability to keep on going even when his day wasn’t much fun is a lesson for me every time.  And even more amazing is that even though he is the reason for my sadness at times, he can also turn right around and be the reason for my joy.  He can be so much fun!  

The funny and the sad, all wrapped up in Aaron.

A lot sure can happen in 27 hours and 22 minutes.