At a smidgen over 5 feet tall, she is well over a foot shorter than Micah and is probably half his weight, yet she is a force to contend with. Erin has been an unofficial member of the Lessard family for many years and has been a huge help in caring for Micah, covering his day program hours and his whole day and nights at times when I am away. She has been willing to fill in on a moments’ notice when other aides have called out for the day and I needed to be somewhere. She has known Micah since he was a little boy, thus she knows him well enough that he rarely surprises her with his antics, however once and awhile he catches her unaware.
On one such recent occasion, Erin had taken Micah into a local Walmart to pick up a few items. All went smoothly while shopping until check out time (does this sound familiar?) when she was surprised to see him bolt by her towards a display of Lysol cans near the exit to the store. As she ran towards Micah wondering what he was up to, Micah whipped off the top of a can and began to spray it in his mouth as his own version of breath spray.
Erin shared that she yelled to the store clerk to bill her for a can and to cash her out, only to find the clerk staring at them, apparently mesmerized by the scene unfolding in front of her. Erin shouted again, while at the same time grabbing Micah from behind around his waist to try to pull him away from the display case. Micah decided to continue his Lysol pursuit pulling Erin behind him as he went for a second can, so they must have appeared to be doing some sort of Conga dance at the front of the store. Although the store clerk was still immobile, an older woman who was there to shop, asked if she could help. When she stepped in close, Micah must have noticed that he was outnumbered which allowed Erin to get him to the cash register to pay just as, by the grace of God, a police officer entered the store. Erin quickly explained that Micah has severe autism and she needed to have access to the Lysol cans cut off so she could exit the store with Micah safely. The officer kindly took up guard duty over the Lysol with one other helpful shopper, thus ending another exciting shopping adventure with Micah.
One might think such an episode would deter Erin from shopping with Micah at least for a recovery period, however she happily reported that she had a successful trip to a different store just a couple days after the Lysol nightmare. Quite honestly, she is braver than I am, and her fearless attitude helps provide Micah with new adventures as she is always thinking about what he might like to try.
So this month I give a shout out to Erin, the dynamo that we are all blessed to have in our lives. With love and deep thanks!
Jan Lessard Peightell March 12, 2024
The Micah Lens 