I have a bad habit, whenever I get frustrated or mad I throw temper tantrums. This started when I was a young boy and when my parents wanted to go out for a night or on a trip. I would throw temper tantrums. This would anger my parents and they would spank me and ground me. When I got older I would baby-sit my brothers and sister for my parents. But I would still have fits even then.
When I was a teenager my Mom had a friend named Betty who lived in Bovill, Idaho where we were living at the time. She had a son who had cerebral palsy and a cognitive disability. Betty and Mom heard about a place in Seattle for people with cerebral palsy and they were going to look at it while Michael and I went summer camp. For several weeks before my Mom went to Seattle I was angry. I was very mad that my Mom was going without me and I threw the biggest temper tantrums that you have seen.
The whole week before camp I threw horrible temper tantrums. I would kick my bedroom door until my feets had red mark on them. My Mom still took me to camp and I had fun and she went to Seattle and everything was all eight. But Mom was scared because the people at the camp thought that my parents was abusing me due to self inflicted redness on my feet
When I turned eighteen years old I wanted be on my own but in 1981 they were just starting things for people with disabilities in Moscow, Idaho. They had something in Pocatello, Idaho and my parents wanted me go down there where I could get help and live with a man who ran a group home. For months I had several tantrums because I wanted Mom to go with me to make all decisions for me. That time I throw the worst temper tantrum ever and I knew I needed to move out of my parent's home.
After I moved out, I would still get very upset when things went wrong. I got in the habit when something was going bad or I didn't have a provider or something else went wrong of calling 911 and they would take me take me down to hospital in Moscow until I was transported to hospital in Lewiston. My mom was always called in to help out. I would see a psychiatrist who would talk to me and my mom and see if we could get it together. He couldn't understand my speech so my mom would interpret for me. After a few days I calmed down and I would go back home.
I am now 45 years old and a few weeks ago I had another temper tantrum. I called 911 after my Mom called my service coordinator and told me she scheduled a meeting for 1:00 and I didn't want a meeting. But this time when I called 911 my Mom told me that she was not going to help me out. She told me good by and left. She said she was tired and too old. The police came to my home and told me I needed settle down or go to Lewiston to the pyschiatric hospital. So I calmed down.
I am telling this story because my mother and I are close. I mean really close. I always worry what will happen when my parent die. I know my brothers and sister would be there and other families and friends but my mother has been there for me through everything. It is a good thing that my mother knows that I need to turn to others and not just her. But I think this will be very hard for me to do.
