Points2Ponder

       "Sandra Jeanne-- Celebrating her birthday and learning a lesson!"

                                     Points2Ponder

                                                                                                       By Alan P. Scaglone

 Looks can be deceiving!

We were meeting my friend Sandra Jeanne at Applebee’s to celebrate her birthday. She’s had a rough year, and she come out on top, testifying to God’s goodness!
Bella and I just wanted to share in that celebration and encourage her onto the next chapter in her life—in other words, be a true friend.
She arrived late, a characteristic we have come to expect and “plan around”… and she headed straight to the restroom.
When she got to the table, she said “That was rude! I was in the restroom, and a lady had a little baby with her. I stopped and said, “Cute baby!” and the lady didn’t say a word. So I said it again, and Still NOT a WORD! How rude was that?”
Just at that moment—the restaurant manager came by and started rearranging the tables beside us and stated to our waitress “table for 24!”
We looked at each other and “Great! This is gonna be a screaming shoutfest all night—luckily, we are loud by nature!”
And we laughed!

Points2Ponder  When’s the last time you thought you knew a situation just to have it be something completely opposite—reminding you to not pre-judge people because “looks can be deceiving!”

Within five minutes… the crowd of 24 started to descend on our area of the restaurant.
Sandra Jeanne said, “Here it comes! Get ready for a raucous! Guess we need to shout to be heard—24 people? We won’t be able to hear ourselves think, let alone talk!”
We geared up for the encroaching crowd!
They started to be seated—and Sandra Jeanne said, “There’s that lady with the cute kid! She’s part of this crowd?”
And yes—apparently she was!
Surprisingly, they were not loud at all—in fact, it was amazing to see about 20 adults and 4 young children and not HEAR them!
And then it hit me—
Actually—it saw me BEFORE it hit me!
They were deaf!

It was a crowd of deaf friends getting together to celebrate a birthday!

And they were signing to one another, having what appeared to be a Great Time together!
And Sandra Jeanne slapped herself on the forehead and said “That’s why she didn’t respond—she wasn’t being rude—she’s deaf! I sure misjudged that one!”
Precisely!

I have to admit, I was distracted throughout the whole evening, watching, observing, studying this group of friends gathered making a memory, celebrating a birthday!

And except for some loud hits on the table and occasional sounds I cannot find a way to articulate… they were just like any other group gathered to share a moment!
And I suddenly… felt so incredibly guilty!
None of our six kids has a handicap.
None of our six and a half(our son and his wife are expecting our seventh grandchild) grandkids has a handicap.
None of our extended family has a handicap.
None of our circle of friends has a handicap.
NONE—how could we dare to complain about all that we spend so much time complaining about??

And yet it dawned on me, as I observed this “pre-judged, here we go, let’s grip ourselves for a loud raucous from a party of 24!” group of friends…

NONE of them acted like they had a handicap either!

In fact, I felt inspired by them!

I guess, in the end… Looks really can be deceiving!

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