How Epilepsy Changed My Relationship With My Father

One day my dad and I decided to do something we haven’t done in a long time. We decided to go to the mall and just walk around and window shop. We got to the mall and began looking at everything. At almost everything we saw, one of us said “I really wish I could get that!” We spent about two hours walking around the mall until we decided we were hungry.

We went to the food court and started deciding what we wanted to eat. I got to about the third stand when suddenly I felt weird. I couldn’t walk anymore, my left side froze into the position it was already in, and I could only mutter words. I was about to have a seizure right there in the mall! My dad came running over and said, “Everything is going to be all right. I’m here, Mary.”

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Then, it stopped! The shaking, not being able to talk, everything went back to normal. I couldn’t believe it! This had never happened before. Why now? Why was this time different than the rest? My dad looked at me and said, “Are you OK?” I answered,”Yeah.” He smiled at me and hugged me. Everyone in the food court was looking at me with either worry or concern.

I knew that my relationship with my dad had changed. It was never going to be the same again. That was a great thing, though. My disability had changed our relationship for the better. I realized that even though he didn’t completely understand epilepsy, he was always there for me. That it didn’t change his love for me. He was one person my disability didn’t matter to.

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Thinkstock photo by Shironosov.