The girls and I went inside to pick up the gazillion and one photos I sent from home to be printed at the one-hour photo center there.
The photo-center employee was chatting on the phone, and I could hear enough of the conversation to know that it was a personal conversation. She chatted for a few minutes before she told the person on the other end of the call that she had to wait on me.
I felt my anxiety rising. DOESN'T SHE REALIZE I AM STANDING HERE WITH A 10 YEAR OLD W/ AUTISM WHO COULD "BLOW" AT ANY MINUTE??? WAITING IS CHALLENGING FOR HER! HANG UP THE PHONE AND GIVE ME MY PHOTOS, NOW!
That's what I felt on the inside. I tried to remain cool, calm and collected on the outside.
Took her a few minutes to find all of my photos (I hadn't printed photos in approximately a year -- I had a *bunch*.)
I wanted to pay using my warehouse club rebate check -- and she didn't have enough cash in her register to do that. It's not that I had a big check. The photo-center customers apparently use plastic, which means the photo-center cash register has very little change inside.
My daughters, yes, including the one on the autism spectrum, were fine, hanging with me, as the photo-center employee sent sent me to customer service.
Customer service sent me to a station beside the checkout lines. There was no line, but again, there was an employee on the phone, ignoring me.
I felt my anxiety rising. DOESN'T SHE REALIZE I AM STANDING HERE WITH A 10 YEAR OLD W/ AUTISM WHO COULD "BLOW" AT ANY MINUTE??? WAITING IS CHALLENGING FOR HER! HANG UP THE PHONE AND CASH MY CHECK, NOW!!!!!!
FINALLY, she asked how she could help me. I tried to remain calm on the outside -- but inside, I was anxious.
She cashed my little rebate check. The girls and I headed to the car. No problem.
I wondered -- WHAT, exactly, was I worried about?
I had a flashback in the warehouse club to a time when my daughter had difficulty understanding the wait.
Whew. Glad it was just a flashback!
Thanks, RDI(r) and Communicating Partners -- to our RDI(r) Program Certified Consultant, to Dr Gutstein, to Dr James D MacDonald, for teaching me and helping me use myself differently, so that my daughter can grow and learn. (Now I must learn to ignore the flashbacks when I have them.)
2 comments:
How cool is that? It's really exciting when they do better than we think they will.
Great story. It's so important to recognize not only our kids' progress, but our own as well. Plus, I think my bird really picks up on my own emotions. If I'm getting crazy, she is more likely to "blow". When I remain calm, I think it's a whole lot easier for her to do the same.
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