Reality Check

Reality Check....... those come at just the right times for me.

Tonight was stressful at the basketball game as we pulled it out by one point at the end. However, that was not where my night ended.

We were eating at Mcdonald's after the game and I noticed a young women in the back sitting down. Then I noticed how upset she then became once all of the loud jr. high kids came in.

The more I observed I noticed that this young woman has an Intellectual Disability and the noise and the amount of people were scaring and upsetting her.

I watched as some of the kids talked about her and heard other people's comments on how she must be on drugs. I do not know what it was that drew me to her but my heart hurt for her in that very moment. I work with children daily who are unable to self-soothe due to a lot of reasons. I watched as this young woman, who was clearly scared, self-soothe and was able to calm down. It was not how each of us probably self-soothe but she did it in a way that works for her. My heart hurt for this young woman. My initial thoughts were to judge her but I should not have.

I got in the car and cried for her. I cried for the fact that I judged her at first. I cried for the fact that their are people in this world that are each different in their own unique way and sometime we don't understand a person's difference.

God Bless that young women who gave me a reality check I needed tonight.

XOXO ~ JulieAnn