Browning Dirt

A Day In The Life Of Tim

As most of you know Tim is our 17 year old Autistic PCS child. We love him to death and I believe he feels the same. Since he's definitely part of the family I just have to share some of his sense of humor and independence.

A couple weeks ago I found myself alone (a rare occasion) when Tim got home from school. I got him out of the van and he plopped right down on the sidewalk. Now anyone who has a child 1 1/2 to 2 years old understands that sometimes kids just don't want to go. What do you do? You pick them up and go anyway. Try that with a child that's 190 lbs. Yeah, doesn't work out so well.

This particular day was almost 100 degrees. Not good for him since he's not supposed to overheat for health reasons. He completely ignored my coaxing and motivations to come into the house. I slathered him with sunscreen, waited for a while and tried again....to no avail. My next step was to cool him down. I was hot so I knew he was. I sprayed him down with cold water. He laughed-hard. He loved it. He did get up which excited me for a second. That was short lived because he decided to run out into the street. He was having a great ol' time. I just wanted to make sure we kept his fun in the yard not the street. Holding up traffic would never faze him. I got him back to the sidewalk and he sat down again.

At this point I didn't know what I was going to do. I just sat out there with him. Another 10 minutes or so went by and I decided I needed to get him inside. I tried dragging him but we were wet. His hands kept slipping from mine (which to him was evidentally very hilarious as well.) I ran inside and grabbed a sheet. I wrapped it around his waist and started tugging...

Enter officer B. I'm not sure if a neighbor called the police or if he was just driving by but, come he did. At this point the day became funny to me too. He asked what was going on and I let him know, without telling him all Tim's medical background, that I was trying to get him in the house and out of the heat for health reasons but he refused to come.

Officer B. is a very serious guy. He walked over to Tim and asked, "Young man, what's your name?" I spoke up, "He's nonverbal his name is Tim." Very confidently he continued, "Your mom says you need to get up, it's time to do as she says." Tim didn't budge. Not a shock. "Young man, your cheeks are red, get up or I'm calling the paramedics and they'll take you to the hospital." Without missing a beat, the officer, who obviously wasn't bluffing, called for an ambulance! I said, "Just so you're aware, he probably doesn't understand you, he's about 2 years old developmentally." His hand held was to his face again in about a second flat. "Cancel that." I was trying not to laugh.

At this point another officer showed up as well. They decided together they'd lift Tim's wet dead weight into the house. Tim didn't laugh through this but you sure could see the gleam in his eye. They moved him MAYBE 2 inches. Officer B. said his back wasn't going to take it and if I got to the point where I thought it was medically urgent, I could call 911 and they'd send out the paramedic. They got back in their cars and drove off. I wrapped the sheet around him again and tugged him into the house where he laughed and laughed. What a turkey.

What spurred me into telling this story? Probably the note I received home from school. It read, "Tim sat down in the road today at the library. The Nampa fire department had to come move him."