There we sat last night, in a gym full of people waiting for our little Aiden to grace us on stage for his Spring Program (which, I might add...he did fabulous!) And, as we sat there waiting we did what any two parents of a little baby girl might...try and keep her occupied..happy..and at least content enough to record the program and make a b-line for the door to meet our little kiddo after.
People behind us were enjoying the toothy little grin of my baby girl, and telling us how pretty she was.(as a parent we never get sick of that, do we?) And, Rob pointed out a woman to my right that was staring "mind bullets" into us I guess. I had seen this woman so many times at soccer, and other school functions and she just always looks so forlorn, so sad, as if she was forced to be right where she was and is really just upset about it. This woman is a grandmother of one of the older children at the school....I do know that much, but, why she was giving us "the eye" I had no idea. I glanced over to offer her a smile, and WHAT....I WAS REJECTED! That does not happen! How can you possibly reject someone smiling at you??? AND WITH A BABY IN ARM???!!! HOW????
Goodness, Rob and I sat there whispering to one another about what her "problem" might be, and Rob devoted her the name of "the woman who forgot to smile..."
Alright, it was not appropriate for us to sit there and talk about her..and, it was not until this morning that I thought I really should have walked over to her, introduced myself for once, and said hi. It's so hard for me to over come rejection with niceness...because, well, I feel rejected. But, maybe she had lost a grand-baby...maybe she was mourning..maybe she lost a spouse...maybe something happened in her year that was a horrible travesty...maybe she has no friends to speak of....maybe she just hated my top I was wearing...who knows...the point is that just because we are rejected that does not give us the right to just shrug people off.
Lesson learned....next time, I will help the woman who forgot to smile...
People behind us were enjoying the toothy little grin of my baby girl, and telling us how pretty she was.(as a parent we never get sick of that, do we?) And, Rob pointed out a woman to my right that was staring "mind bullets" into us I guess. I had seen this woman so many times at soccer, and other school functions and she just always looks so forlorn, so sad, as if she was forced to be right where she was and is really just upset about it. This woman is a grandmother of one of the older children at the school....I do know that much, but, why she was giving us "the eye" I had no idea. I glanced over to offer her a smile, and WHAT....I WAS REJECTED! That does not happen! How can you possibly reject someone smiling at you??? AND WITH A BABY IN ARM???!!! HOW????
Goodness, Rob and I sat there whispering to one another about what her "problem" might be, and Rob devoted her the name of "the woman who forgot to smile..."
Alright, it was not appropriate for us to sit there and talk about her..and, it was not until this morning that I thought I really should have walked over to her, introduced myself for once, and said hi. It's so hard for me to over come rejection with niceness...because, well, I feel rejected. But, maybe she had lost a grand-baby...maybe she was mourning..maybe she lost a spouse...maybe something happened in her year that was a horrible travesty...maybe she has no friends to speak of....maybe she just hated my top I was wearing...who knows...the point is that just because we are rejected that does not give us the right to just shrug people off.
Lesson learned....next time, I will help the woman who forgot to smile...