I just may have met the meanest guy in Clay County today. Most of the time, I’m very understanding of people being in bad moods. But I’m afraid this guy was not having a bad day – I think this was just who Craig is. I know his name is Craig only because that’s what his shirt said.
My day was already busy and I rushed through most of it like most Tuesdays. I picked up Carter, ran home and picked up Keeper (our white fluffy Cavashon) and rushed to get to Keepers vetrinarian appointment. We got there just in time and in my excitement of successfully getting to the appointment on time, let my dog accidentally greet a very unfriendly man, once again named Craig.
He pushed her off him and I quickly tugged and appologized. She is only 10 lbs, but I get it…some people just don’t care for dogs at all, or ones that do not belong to them. (But I hate to state the obvious here, but you are in a vetrinarian office…typically you will find dogs here… I’m just saying).
I took a seat as far away from him as the tiny waiting room allowed. I held Keeper close on my lap to make sure she had no additional mishaps. It’s hard to say if she would have survived the second happy greeting.
Of course, my little C-Man, the happy boy he is, has a hard time not saying hi to people. There was one seat between us and Craig. Carter slipped over before I caught him, leaned his head down so he could see his face and squeaked out, “Hi!” Before I could reach him and appologize again, Craig said, “LEAVE ME ALONE!”
(insert my speechless draw dropping moment here)
I grabbed my sons arm and jerked him over as close to me as I could. Then I looked at him and said, “He has special needs, and YOU! You should be ashamed of yourself.”
It was at that moment the vet tech called Keeper back. She said to me, “Okay we’ll take Keeper now and you can stay here because it looks like you have your hands full with your son.” My reply, “No no, I’d rather be anywhere than in this waiting room. I’ll come back with you.”
It took less than a minute to have her stitches removed (Keeper got fixed) and we were on our way. The second we walked out the door it felt like the tension was gone and I was rid of the hateful feeling that person gave me. I always like to think of that slogan I’ve mentioned on here many times, “Be kinder than necessary for you never know what kind of battle someone is facing.” And in this case, I had to do my best to think this man MUST be going through something to hate so much. I’ve never met a person in the world that didn’t love C-Man and his happy smiles and loving greetings.
I know as he gets older, we will have more of these. But hopefully not so mean. His love for everyone and the way he wants to love and hug on everyone, I understand, will not be welcomed by all people… and it’s my job as his mother to help him understand that although he loves, our world is much quicker to hate.
On my drive home, I said a prayer for Craig. It WAS a short prayer, but I did it nonetheless. I prayed that whatever is holding his heart captive would free him. Because that’s no way to live, there’s no room for love.
So although I’m sure I have a few non-fans of my extreme optimism, I’m climbing up again past this minor annoyance. I won’t let Craig stop us from being happy and allowing C-Man to extend cheery “Hi’s!” (What kind of world would would it be without those?) And if one out the hundreds he’s probably said hi to in the grocery store, post office, clinic and mall are mean to him – that’s not so bad is it? This time it didn’t hurt his feelings. I don’t think he understood at all that the guy didn’t like him or simply wanted him away from him. But there will come a time where we will have to teach him about hate, because people with Williams Syndrome don’t understand hate… only love.
