“We are each gifted in a unique and important way. It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light.” ~Mary Dunbar
“I don’t want to sit by Teresa. She doesn’t talk.”
Ouch.
I was 10 years old at the time and attending a fundraiser dinner for my softball travel team.
After I got my chicken, mashed potato, and green bean plate, it was time to pick a seat.
I sat with my teammate whom I looked up to. She was 2 years older than me. She was fierce, badass and sassy. She was honest. She didn’t take shit from anyone.
Clearly, she didn’t feel the same about me because in response to my sitting next to her she said, “I don’t want to sit by Teresa. She doesn’t talk.”
It happened 23 years ago but I still remember it, in part because comments such as this were commonplace to me when I was a child. Other forms of abuse included: “Why don’t you talk more?” “Why are you being so quiet?” “What’s wrong?”
I have received many of these comments over the years, but I am always surprised by them because I’m not in a calm place.
At the fundraiser dinner, I remembered…
