Sharon

Sharon is the developmentally challenged adult that hits if you remember. The "wicked" one.
She actually can be very loving, she just gets frustrated easily. She takes hold of your wrist in a vice like clamp, and the more you try to get her off the tighter she holds. She slugged one of the mission visitors really hard. I think the visitor was frightened a little by the iron clamp she had on her arm, and tried to get away. I have a theory, that Sharon is like the little old lady that was sucking my hands into her mouth because she was so hungry. Sharon is so hungry for touch, hugs, love that she grabs and forces, and gets angry when it's rejected. I'm going to experiment next time, by hugging her when she clamps onto my arm. Just stop what I'm doing and hold her a minute. We'll see what happens...a smile for her, or a bruise for me!
She broke my heart on the last beach trip. We had a lot of help this trip so almost everyone in the Infirmary got to go, bedridden, paralyzed...they were all carried onto the bus. I grinned to myself thinking, at home, they would have been having a heart attack at the liability of taking these patients to the beach.
Like in town one day, there was a fender bender, and people gathered to take sides, and yell advice...abuse, whatever. Because there are no jobs, there are a lot of people just hanging in the streets. Looks like a festival is going on usually. Anyway, everybody gets out, looks at the damage, yells, shakes fists in the air...then just get in their cars and leave. There's no insurance to cover you....you just go home with a dent in your car, and if your lucky, no one's hurt. The liability is totally your own.
So I'm helping residents find clothing they can wear to the beach, and I notice Sharon. She runs and gets her "beach clothes" on, and keeps wanting me to take her out to the bus. I'm becoming more and more upset because I know that she is the one who gets horribly carsick, so is not allowed to go. She gets more frantic, wanting to go, and I have to sit her down on her bed and try to explain to her why she has to stay. She fully understood my words, because she got sadder and sadder and just sat on the edge of her bed and hung her head, utterly limp. The bus drivers are picky about their buses. Most are emblazoned across the top of the windshield with their nick names, or philosophy of life. It's like part of their identity. They are proud of them and keep them very clean. They will not be happy with someone hurling all over the place.
I had to wait and go with the last bunch, and she was still sitting there...head hanging. I wish I would have stayed. I wanted to see Princess in the water at the beach, her first time to get to go, and selfishly...I went. I should have stayed with Sharon. It haunts me how abandoned she must have felt. How much does she understand? What does she feel? One of the Aids said she came from a family that beat her. Explains the hitting. And the need for loving touch.
Next time I'm hoping to take Dramamine, and sneak her past. If not, I'll stay and we'll get a bucket of water to play in or something. Or maybe we'll just hug....