Yesterday we were off to buy new shoes for Cole...For the first time Cole outgrew his shoes but didn't quite make it into Drew's old shoes (too big).... I promised them lunch at Wendy's hoping it would illicit good behavior for the dreaded shoe shopping.
As we were standing in line at Wendy's to order I see a little boy RUNNING all over the place! Mom placing her order and yelling for him to PLEASE stop... I judged...ever so briefly...but I judged.. "Ugh seriously" I said to myself... "this is not a playground" And moved on...
We get our food and now I have completely forgotten about the running, screaming child...we sit down..3 tables in a corner and 2 are already taken but this where my kids want to sit. An older woman sits at the middle table and a mom and her young son sit at the table next to her ... I over hear a conversation they are having (clearly strangers but chatting non the less)... and they are talking about autism.... I wonder if I should chime in or just keep to myself.. but at this point I realize the woman I just judged 5 minutes ago was sitting right here and her son has autism.... and I judged her..She was ME when Drew was younger (and not that we don't still have moments..but...). She begins to talk about vaccines and not wanting to do them anymore and of course the issue with going to school... here's my chance. I have info that can help her...no more judging, just the opportunity to help another mom... So we ALL begin chatting! How nice it was to learn about this mom and her son and turns out the older woman's husband has Aspergers and their daughter has 5 kids all with "something" (autism, aspergers, cognitive issues). What are the chances we would all meet!?
The mom and I exchange emails so I could send her some info and she leaves with her once again RUNNING through the restaurant son :-)... The other woman and I sit and chat for awhile.. She talked with my boys and picked up on sooo much. She could see how sweet and smart Drew is ...She saw how amazingly bright Cole was but KNEW he had some "issues". WOW this woman meets us and talks with us for maybe 15 minutes and can "see" all this!!....totally nonjudgemental. How nice it was to have a total stranger take some time to talk with us and NOT judge.... BIG lesson learned...So no silly, goofy pictures or stories of the boys today... Just a BIG thank you to the Universe for stepping in ...I needed that :)
Peace people.....
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