Been Awhile

Anybody out there?

A couple of people have asked me what I think about that British children's talk show lady that has one hand and the Hullabaloo surrounding it.

Well I think it's silly and sad that people are trying to shield their children from life.

Hey I never thought I'd have to think about prosthetics and occupational therapy and all that stuff but I do. I have for almost four years because my kid has a very obvious limb difference.

And you know what?
He still has lots of friends.
Does it freak some kids out?
Sure it does.
Of course it does.

Heck, it freaked ME out.

We were waiting to pick Aidan up at school yesterday and this kid Riley plays with asked him about his little arm.
I told him when he decided not to wear his helper hand that kids would probably ask him about the little arm thing.

I said, "What are you going to do when they start asking?"
And he shrugged.
He doesn't give a crap or maybe he's sick of it... at age 3.

He just ignores them. That's how he deals.

SO when the kid asked, I said, "See Ri, I told you someone would say something." And we both rolled our eyes.
The kids mom was all like, "What?!!! What did he say?"

And I said that he asked about Riley's little arm and it wasn't a big deal because he'd asked before.

And the Mom was mortified and she did what a lot of people do when they are mortified, she started running her mouth.

"Riley is that way because God made him that way. God made him special."

Blech.

First of all, I do not believe that God goes around ripping babies' hands off to make them special.
Gross.

And secondly, I have learned that not having a hand doesn't make him special. It makes him different, but not special.

Being decent and kind and funny and awesome are things that make him special. You know?

So I said to the mom, "You know, we really don't tell him that. We really don't think having a limb difference is a "special" thing."

I kept my mouth shut about God. I don't discuss my beliefs with people I know let alone practical strangers calling my kid "special".

"We just try to use the Nemo analogy." I told her. "Nemo has a little fin and we all still like him, right?"
And the crowd of little kids surrounding us (because by this time, there was a huge crowd of curious four-year-old looky-loos) all nodded their heads.

Everybody likes Nemo.

And they all went off playing Power Rangers with Riley and it was over.

And that mom was still mortified.

"I'm really sorry he asked about it." she said to me.

"Well, why wouldn't he ask about it?" I said, "It's different."

It's normal to ask about it. It's normal to be healthy about it.

And it could happen to anybody. Seriously. I could go out today and lose my hand in an accident. It could happen to The Husband or Aidan or the neighbor's kid.
It could happen to anybody.

Let's talk about it. Let's be honest about it. Let's not stick the "special" label on anybody and let's move on.

I applaud the show that has the one-handed lady on it. Who gives a crap how many hands she has anyway?
It's life. It's just life.

People need to get over it.