This past Thursday afternoon, I was at a local restaurant with a close friend of mine. We were kind of standing off to the side trying to look at the menu and decide what we wanted to order. I was talking to my friend and rattling off some sandwiches that sounded good. As I mentioned one in particular, a sourdough melt, I had a guy walk right past us and say something like, "that one is really good!" I said, "okay, thanks!" I then said to my friend, "I guess I must have been talking kind of loud, if that guy commented!" I did end up ordering that sandwich and it was really good, so I guess that dude was right! It got me to thinking, how many times have I overheard a person's conversation and felt the need to comment? Probably more times than I should have! About three weeks ago, I was in my favorite grocery store and I overheard an older woman (I'm assuming she was the grandma) talking to the two little kids that she was pushing in the cart. I guess it had been a rough day because I heard her say, "you better stop doing that, or you are going to go sit in the car, ALONE!" Yikes, I wanted so bad to say something to the grandma, but didn't. Just last week, I was at a grocery store I don't go to very often and I was listening to the gal and the clerk talking to each other in front of me. The clerk said, "did you get the special loaded to your account?" This particular store has recently put many digital "specials" on-line and you have to load them to your account. The two women were discussing the special in great depth. When it was my turn to check out I asked the clerk, "hey, I didn't load the special to my card either!" Turns out you had to spend a certain amount to get a percentage off and I didn't come anywhere close to that amount, so I didn't feel too bad. I felt bad for the gal in front of me, because she qualified for the percentage off, but hadn't loaded it to her account. When you're waiting in line, it's kind of hard not to listen to the conversations swirling around you, especially if you're by yourself! How about you? Do you ever comment on a conversation you have overheard? or would it be too awkward??
When Dominic was diagnosed with Autism at 2 1/2, I went to our local library and took out every book I could find about Autism. Sometimes I would bring back 20 books. This was 2006, so a lot of the information was very "dated." I guess I was looking for a book that would tell me what I should do next, like a "manual." Autism doesn't quite work that way! The saying is, " if you know one person with Autism, you know one person with Autism." Every mom to an individual with Autism follows their own "path." I think as moms, we judge ourselves much harder than anyone else does. I was 41 when I had Dominic. Did he get the diagnosis of Autism because I was an older mom? because I drank a lot of pop? I could sit and think about that every minute of every day. I am pretty integrated into the Autism community around Lansing and have told more than one person that it took me about two weeks to come to terms with Dominic's diagnosis. It is so incredib...
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