There is no MCAndy

Well tomorrow is my last day of full time work. I am leaving a world that has taught me so much about human beings-maybe more than I ever wanted to know, but I want to leave you with a laugh. I want to remember the laughing and hope when I go to sleep at nights it will drown out other memories. I hope I do this story of what happened yesterday justice. We went bowling. My client this past year loves bowling, but his brain injury impacts his balance as well as his emotions. He is all emotion which means that sometimes he is pure joy and sometimes he is a tangle of agony and anger unchecked by his mind. Anyway Karen was with her 75 year old full of fun client who is a surprisingly good bowler. Another client, a young man, Andy, who is non verbal, was supposed to join us. I set the electronic scoreboard-MCK(my clients nickname), 75 year old Dickie and Andy. We begin the game without Andy but it became apparent he would not get there on time. So my client MCK was asked to bowl for Andy. We called him MCAndy. The game began with MCK, Dickie and the imaginary MCAndy bowling. MCK and Dickie were bowling very well but MCAndy was lights out. I turned to the other staffers and said this is going to be an interesting disaster. My client, MCK, has a melt down when he looses, but what happens when he beats himself. We always encourage whoever is bowling-real or imaginary. So we cheered MCAndy-"Great shot, MCAndy" . The doomsday scenario played out to its most perverse conclusion. MCAndy beat MCK by 4 pins. I asked MCK how he felt. He said, "Horrible! I lost." I said, "You played great, but MCAndy was just having the game of his life." MCK replied, "I'm MCAndy!" All the way home I could not stop laughing promising that we would beat MCAndy tomorrow. "There is no MCAndy! Cut it out you guys!" I was hoping to leave on a high note of maturity, but it was not in the stars. As the sun sets, I will play with Samaya and hopes she doesn't notice that her granddad is only slightly older than she is.