Yesterday was the free monthly build at the Lego store featuring Frankenstein. Being the great mom that I am, I took my kids to the event. Learning from the last two times, I made it there an hour before the event started.. thinking that was early enough to not be at the end of the line that wrapped around past two other stores. No, no, no. We were still too late.. stuck only a couple of feet from where we stood in line last month. So I braved up and asked the person in the front of the line what time they got there. Two hours prior!!!
Anyway, we stood behind this man who never said a thing to us and every now and then would turn around and smile at us. After an hour past, the man looked around as if he was looking for someone. I figured it was his grandkids or someone like that. He turns to us and mumbled “I’ll be back” very quietly. I barely heard him but knew what he said because his lips moved like that and his hand gestures suggested it. “Sure,” I nodded and smiled back.
About 15 minutes later he returned and started scribbling on his note pad. He turned around and handed me this:
Click image to view larger print
Ahhhh that would explain everything. No kids in sight still and I figured he was a regular at these events and they allowed him to build because of his impairment. Boo! I caught myself judging him and later discovered that he was with two other hearing impaired people and two kids. I wondered if they were his and whether they were hearing impaired too. Then I wondered if he heard my thoughts because he turned around again with another note that read:
“Just in case, do you know anyone who is 45 or older that is single and petite like you? deaf or not?” followed by a big smiley face.
After I smiled and shook my head no, I shut up. I stopped complaining about the long wait; stopped wondering if the wait is really worth it; stopped trying to figure out why a grown man was in line by himself and no kids were coming; stopped wondering what it was like to be deaf and how nice it would be right now to not be able to hear the screaming kid behind us, yadah yadah ya!
For the next 15 minutes before it was our turn, I stood quietly in line with my kids All of us just stood there not saying another word. I stood there listening to all the noises around me and enjoyed people watching with no judgements.
I am inspired to post wordless wednesdays and not say anything on my blog (aka write) and just post a picture. I will also resist the temptation to write a caption (unless it was to give credit) because I often find myself rambling on in my head or feeling the need to always explain myself and especially justify myself to others. I mean how often do we just give a straight up answer without having the need to justify our answer? For example, someone asks if you can sub their class and you really don’t want to but can’t just say no so you proceed to find an excuse to tell that person exactly why you can’t. Before you know it, you’re giving the other person your whole life story about why you can’t sub their class.
No words. No judgements. No explanations. Just be. Let’s see how it goes.. this will be a good opportunity for me to start playing with my camera more too…
Nikki you are a sage. seriously.
‘No words. No judgements. No explanations. Just be.’
I’ve noticed the same with me, I often feel weird after I ramble on and tell a bunch of info about myself, then think why didn’t I just stop after the actual answer? I’m practicing mindfulness of this, and working toward -> “I mean how often do we just give a straight up answer without having the need to justify our answer?”
I feel I get at least double of life when I’m in the present.