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Stories and adventures written by siblings of their personal experiences with their special sib. |
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Just a story to get you thinking of some of your favorite true stories... The Day We Got Free Cable by Sipseedoodah@aol.com Anyone who has grown up with a sibling who has mental retardation learns quickly how to put up with a lot of things. I have been told by my counselor that I have "a high tolerance for inappropriate behavior"! How true that is. Here is one of my stories that when I tell others, they usually look at me in horror (probably thanking God that it was me and not them.) :) Years ago, when my brother was about 18 years old and still living at home. His obsession, or should I say one of many, was watching TV. Nothing specific-just TV. Cable TV was fairly new at the time and wasn't always very dependable- especially after a rainstorm. Well one day, after he got off the school bus, he plopped himself down in front of the TV. When the TV wouldn't come on, he flew in a rage and did everything possible to tell me that he was not a happy camper. My brother is non-verbal so explanations tend to be very physical and interesting at times. Well I called the Cable company to come out and repair our cable line, they sent a man over right away. (My brother would probably tell you that they were not fast enough.) Now picture this. We are sitting in a small TV room because my brother refused to leave the room. He is rocking on the couch and hitting his fists which he does when he is frustrated . The repair man is bent over trying to fix the cable while we sit in the room watching him work. My brother is getting more and more agitated so I tell him we must leave the room. While the repair man is looking at me, I explained a few things about my brother and how very important it is that he fix the cable quickly because of my brother's obsession. At that moment, my brother got up and proceeded to hit me in the head with his fist. He caught me off guard. He also caught the repair man off guard. In fact, he was stunned. Since this was not his first time hitting me, I knew what to do. I told the repair man everything will be OK when I get my brother in a time-out. I took an authoritative stance( this means "mean") and sent him to his room for a time out. I came back and the poor repair man didn't know what to say. Once again, I am making another person feel comforted when I possibly could have had a concussion.:) Well, the repair man did his thing and thank goodness, quickly. Then we parted ways. Nothing more was said. I think he was still in shock. But from that day on for the next six months ,we got free cable! If you can relate, send your story with the subject "The day we got free Cable". sibofspecialbro@ivillage.com
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