Skip to main content

Awkward Encounters

A few weeks ago, after I had put my groceries in the back of my van after doing a little shopping and was getting ready to hop in my car to go home, I happened to look over and see someone I thought I recognized getting out of her car in the parking lot. She looked at me a few times and I looked at her a few times.  I hesitated about another five seconds and then called out her name.  We walked over to each other and I said, "I thought that was you!"  She said the same thing back to me.  I had not seen this woman for at least five years, probably more.  We quickly talked about our kids (she asked me if I was a grandmother yet!?!?) and since it was a bit nippy in the parking lot, our conversation was brief.  She and I used to be pretty good friends and we didn't have a falling out or a bad ending to a friendship, it was more like just drifting apart from each other. Have you ever run in to someone that you did have a falling out with? Do you acknowledge them or pretend like you didn't see them and go the opposite direction?  How about when you see someone you recognize, but if you catch their eye, they give you a look like they've never seen you before in their life?  That's happened to me more than a few times.  What do you do if you run into a friend you haven't seen in a long time and can't remember their name?? That's REALLY awkward!!  Earlier this week, my husband was telling me about someone that had written in to "Miss Manners" about when you're in a public restroom, and you witness someone coming out of the stall and just rinse their hands briefly without using soap.  The person writing the letter was thinking of confronting the person about using soap and/or washing their hands properly.  The response back from "Miss Manners" was to not say anything to the person.  I kind of agree.  When I have seen people do that, I just squirt an extra dose of hand sanitizer (that I always have in my purse) into my hands after I leave the restroom.  It's not up to me to be the bathroom "police!"  It's none of my business anyways. The other day I was thinking about an "encounter" I had at the Kroger back in January. An older lady and I were standing next to each other in the bread aisle when I felt a sneeze coming on, but managed to contain it.  That sneeze was following by one that I knew couldn't be kept in. Since I didn't have any Kleenex,  I sneezed into the crook of my elbow and the woman next to me said, "thanks for doing that!"  I was like, "I didn't think you probably felt like being sneezed on!" She looked over at me and then walked away without saying anything back to me. She acted like she couldn't get away from me fast enough!  I thought it was a tiny bit funny :)  Oh well, guess you could sum up that entire experience with one word - AWKWARD!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Those "Steps" to Independence Can Be Hard

We are heading towards 600 orders for Dominic's business. Since our long-term goal for Baked Goods By Dominic is having a "brick-and-mortar" and hire those with disabilities, it is essential and imperative that I continue to teach him all parts of the business. Since I prompted Dominic for so many years for speech, he has become "prompt dependent." What that essentially means is that he will look at me for a prompt, like, "what do you do next?" I do that one a lot. Dominic has been going to a private speech therapist for over ten years and she reminds me often that Dominic usually will know the answer, if I am patient and wait for him. That has been a very hard habit to break! Dominic has an incredible memory, so I put it to the test this morning. I didn't write out the steps, I wanted to see how much he could do completely on his own. We have a customer picking up his order today, but the only thing that had been done is putting the cookies into t...

Why We Pursued Guardianship of our Son with Autism

Last Thursday morning, my husband, Dominic and I went to our county's Probate Court and had Dominic's Guardianship Hearing. My husband and I are Co-Guardians, and we were granted "Partial Guardianship," which means Dominic can make some of his own decisions (future educational and vocational placement options, what to wear and how he wants to spend his free time), but my husband and I will make his medical, health care, legal, contractual and major financial decisions. The subject of Guardianship in the disability "world" has been and continues to be a controversial and divisive topic.  I was a panelist for an Autism Conference this past summer and presented on what it's like to have a child with Autism. Towards the end of my presentation, I mentioned that Dominic had just turned 18 and that we were going through the Guardianship process. When the attendees could ask questions, the first person that went up to the microphone started telling me that I was...

Presume Competence

Since we have traveled outside of the United States since Dominic was very small, we have had to get him a Children's Passport every five years. Since his current one expires in February of 2024 and he is now 19, we had to apply for an Adult Passport. I don't know why my husband and I picked Dominic's first day of school and Michigan State University moving in their students, but the appointment was yesterady at 3 p.m. We had gathered all of the documents needed and then went into a special room in the East Lansing Post Office just for Passports. The three of us sat down and the clerk asked Dominic his age. He said, "19." Since we were also getting his picture taken for the Passport, he went into a separate room, where she took a picture of him and then let him look at it to make sure he liked it (it will be his picture for the next 10 years)!  He said he did, so he sat back down with us. The clerk filled out a bit more of the paperwork and then she let Dominic s...