Earlier this week I was at my favorite grocery store going up and down the aisles, looking for good deals, and getting the items on my list. The time I usually go shopping is in the morning, during the week, so most of the other customers are stay-at-home moms like myself or senior citizens. Well, this particular time, I noticed an elderly man in a motorized wheelchair trying to reach for something on a high shelf. I went over and said, "sir, do you want me to get something off the shelf for you?" He said, "no, I just had bariatric surgery and I have to do it myself!" Hmm, I don't know if I wanted to know quite that much about him, considering I had never met him before. I remember hesitating about 10 seconds and then I think I said, "cool!" Looking back, maybe that wasn't the best response. I almost was going to ask him how much weight he lost, but that didn't seem to be appropriate. Maybe I should have said, "good for you or good luck!" I really wish I could think quicker on my feet sometimes!! One thing about my personality is that I sometimes have a tendency to share a little too much about myself. I can usually size someone up pretty quickly when I first meet them and determine if I can share really personal things with them. My mother-in-law was really, really private, but I could always be myself with her. I think she definitely thought I shared way too information with people, but we still managed to have a pretty good relationship!! How do you handle it if a friend divulges way too much information about themselves, their relationships, marriage or their kids? Don't you wish life came with an instruction manual sometimes???
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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