Just A Little Thing

People ask each other conversationally about their families, their children. It's well meaning! It's friendly!

There can be landmines for so many reasons though.

Today I said something careless to a new friend and stepped on a truth about her family.

Today a colleague said something that caught me all awkward about my kids, finding me stumbling over my answer like this, "Well, um, but, see, um, my son has autism, so..."

My new friend handled it with grace; no problem, she forgave my mistake.

I try to handle it with grace, too, to let the awkwardness pass quickly away.

And the best outcome is when we all try our best, and are understanding, and forgive one another. We are all just human, we all mean well, let's all just be friends.

I will work on not making assumptions, though. I will work on not speaking carelessly. I also am trying to let go of "but" when I talk about my boy. I am going to try for "and" instead.

My son has autism. And he is wonderful.