First Impressions

[caption id="attachment_4730" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Ellie and Izzy"][/caption]

Maybe a year ago I was walking Izzy, Ellie's school friend, to our house for a play date.  As we were walking we came upon a woman who was sitting by the sidewalk in her yard holding 3 guinea pigs.  I think Ben said something about the animals to the woman or I did, and the woman did not respond at all.  I immediately began to get offended, "Who does she think she IS not speaking to my adorable child??  How dare she!"  After we'd passed her, Izzy suggested that maybe she was deaf and did not hear Ben's comment.  Wow.  I thought that was a much much nicer thought than the ones I had been thinking.

Last weekend we walked to a fishing spot nearby.  As we walked, I saw the same (grumpy in my head) woman sitting outside her home holding guinea pigs.  Thom was ahead of us and stopped to chat with her as if he knew her.  I immediately thought she must work at the DOR.  Then Thom introduced us

[caption id="attachment_4744" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Lotta and one of her babies."][/caption]

and told me how she volunteered in Ben's swimming class as she used to be a swim instructor.  I thanked her for her assistance.  Then we went on to exploring and fishing.

As Lotta and I headed home later, the woman and her husband were in the front yard.  She had carried out her third guinea pig and made a point of showing Lotta what her pets could do.  As we continued on our walk, a little girl walked by and the couple said, "Oh, you're later than usual today, " as if seeing her was a daily occurrence.

What shocked me was how, once again, my initial rush to judgment was so so wrong.  The woman shared with me as we talked how she had just finished treatment for Kidney cancer.  I thought back to that day when she wasn't talking to us and wondered if maybe she just hadn't been feeling well.  I know I've mentioned in a previous blog about a neighborhood woman I felt slighted by whom I later realized just cannot see well.  I mean seriously how many opportunities will I get to stop my rush to judgement?  I guess that's it, I'll keep getting opportunities until I get it.