Weekend With Dean, Our Special Needs Skywalker

We brought Dean home for the weekend.

He was surprised and had no idea he was coming home,

because if he did know,

he'd been a wreck until we got there.

That's just how he is--

if he knows about something coming up,

the anticipation

kills him....and frankly,

annoys the daylights outta everyone

around him. 

"Are we going yet?"

"We're gonna be late!"

"What time is it?"

"I will miss it!"

So we don't tell him about planned activities

that are out of the ordinary--

to save our sanity and his.
Mostly ours.

He was beaming ear to ear

when he came outside and saw us--

"HEY GUYS!"--he yelled across the yard.

His caregivers handed me his overnight bag,

as he climbed into the front seat

his mouth was going 110 mph...

he was so excited to see us
that if he hadn't been told to get his shoes on,
I bet he'd have gotten into the car barefoot.

Of course, the first thing he tells me

is that I'm 

going the wrong way...

"Den-vuh is dat wayyyy." --pointing south on the interstate.

There's construction on the turn-off, 

so I went right by the exit--

to which he is exclaiming LOUDLY:

"Den-vuhh is dat wayyyy...You're going the wong way, Dawn."

Two seconds later,

we're making a u-turn and praising Dean--

"You're right, Buddy. I drove right past the exit!"

He calls me "Dawn" for the first few hours of nearly every visit.

It's not until he's home around

all the rest of the yahoos

that he reverts to calling me 

"Momza" or "Mom".
Or Honey Bunny.

For the rest of the two hour drive home,

I listen to his chatter...

-about his job ("I make seventy-five cents a hourah!")--

thrilled as though he makes seventy-five million dollars an hour.

-about his friends and co-workers ("Francine--she is hot!)

-asking about his brother, David Scott, his dad in Arizona (whom he hasn't seen since he was around 15 years old), his sister, Nana--whom he heard has a new car and wants to ride in it and "get ice cream with her."

-and the eternal question: "What are we DOING tonight?"

Dean is a planner.

A Go-er and a Do-er.

The drive home is longer than two hours

because Colorado is having what the weathermen call

"Monsoon-like weather"--

it's raining bucketfulls 

flooding the streets in low spots

so traffic is backed-up to New Mexico

and it's getting dark.

I asked Dean some random questions

on the way,

like

"What did Heavenly Father send you down to earth to do, buddy?"

He thinks for a moment--

and I'm expecting some sweet spiritual thought--

"To pay wrent, wurk hawrd, and pay taxes."


Touche young Skywalker, touche.
I wonder if Dean knew The Plan
from the beginning
and chose to skip out on the whole
"Normal" scene
just so he wouldn't have to pay rent & taxes.
I've always said he's smarter than the rest of us.
Totally true.

He can, in fact, sense a
disturbance in the Force--
anyone comes in the front door
or
heaven forbid LEAVES without him,
it is noticed asap.
We try to spell words
when we're making plans...
Nana: We're thinking of G-O-I-N-G to the
M-O-V-I-E-S.
Momza: To see?
Dani: T-O-Y....
Momza: S-t-o-r-y?
Dean: Toy Stowy! Moovee! YESSSSSS!
Momza: How about  D-e-s-p-i-c-a-b-l-e-M-e?
Dani: Spell that agai....o wait, I got it.
Nana: D-E-S-P? O Oh yeah. Let's D-O that.
Dean: Do...Doooo...YESSSS!!!

The missionaries are there because it's
Saturday --and we feed them breakfast every Saturday...
one announces he is totally lost in the conversation.
We've been spelling things for years...
one time
when the yahoos were little,
I said in the car,
"When we get home, you guys are takin' a N-A-P!"
To which Deano responded, "No Nap!"

See what I mean?
Smarter.

At Church he likes to lead the music
with his air wand,
and he repeats the Hymn page loud enough
so that every one within 8 rows can hear...
thoughtful young Skywalker.
If the speaker tells a joke,
and Dean is in the congregation,
his laughter fills the room.
He wants to meet everyone there,
but is so shy at first,
he barely raises his eyes to meet a new person.
A people person, definitely.

His trip ended Monday,
and he was ready to Go to Work--
he hates missing even an hour.
I think he's got more figured out
than I ever will.