He's a P.I.A.

My third client is a gentleman who I'll call Ben. Ben is 92 and the most advanced in his Alzheimer's Disease of all my clients. As a former writer and editor, he is inquisitive, highly observant, charismatic, intelligent, and hilarious.

Every time I meet with Ben it's always a unique and memorable experience.

One day we were walking together down the hallway and I asked him how his day had been.

"Well it's been good and it's been wondrous," he replied.
"Wondrous...wow...that's pretty great, how has it been wondrous?"
"Well, you see people you know and then you see people you didn't expect to see," he said.
"Who did you not expect to see?"
"Well... yesterday my son-in-law visited me."
"Oh that sounds fun!"
"Yeah...well...I guess...he's a P.I.A. and--"
"What's a P.I.A.?" I interrupted him.
"HE'S A PAIN IN MY ASS!" he yelled through the halls.

At this point I cannot contain myself and I laugh hysterically. He caught me off guard with that. By P.I.A. I thought he was referring to his son-in-law's career...not the fact that he's a royal nuisance.

I turned bright red from laughing so hard and from the shock and surprise of what he said.

"Are you ok? You're a little red..." he said to me, looking concerned.
"No, I'm alright. I'm a little hot that's all," I lied.
"Oh ok...I thought maybe I offended you with that."

I reassured him that he didn't offend me and we continued walking.

"So what makes your son-in-law a P.I.A.?" I asked.
"Well...he's a royal pain in the..anatomy (he pauses before he says anatomy for effect and I laugh) because he comes here and tells everyone what to do and bugs me and asks all these questions..."
"Sound frustrating," I said.
"Yeah...it really is. I don't say anything to him though because I'm scared he'll tell my daughter..."
"And you want to just keep the peace."
"Yeah, exactly."

As Ben proceeded to talk on and on about how much he hates his son-in-law and how much he constantly bothers him when he visits I laughed and smiled. Ben is still so articulate and his ability to thoroughly describe his anger and frustration makes me giggle uncontrollably.

"So what does your son-in-law do for a living?" I asked.
"You mean besides ANNOYING me..." he says making direct eye contact.

I laughed again. He is just too hysterical.