Wednesday, August 27, 2008

I actually said it out loud

Have you ever had someone say something to you that was just rude and inappropriate? You get flustered and cannot get you wits about you to say something back. Then you find yourself replaying that moment knowing exactly what you coulda , shoulda, woulda, said.

Well, I had one of those moments but I actually said something back.

Today, I took the boys to the most amazing park in McLean, VA. It is designed to be a fully handicap accessible park and has an actual carousel that the children can ride, including ones in wheelchairs. I was excited to go and let Brayden try out few things. We arrived first thing in the morning. We pushed Brayden's KidKart all around the jungle gyms and he got to follow his brothers around. Carter and Luke were excited to show him all around. I really wanted to have Brayden try the handicap swings, designed for child that cannot sit up. Much to my dismay, everyone else was using the swings and we just had a brief moment to try it out. I am pretty sure that Brayden was the only actual handicap child in the entire park. We will have to go back another time for a good try.

By lunch time, the park was packed. Every square inch was covered with eager children. The spaces in the parking lot are limited and many people have to use satellite parking down the road. We did not. We have that wonderful handicap tag. I love it because I have enough room to set up Brayden's KidKart and load him in with ease.

We set up for lunch at the picnic tables. The boys were sitting with their Aunt and cousins while I went to the car to get the cooler. I was reaching into the car when a woman walked behind me. She said, not so quietly under her breath and with a lot of sarcasm, "It must be nice to get such nice parking space." She said it loud enough for me to hear and was definitely nasty. It seemed as though she thought I was not justified to be using one of the front parking handicap spots (there are a lot of handicap spaces at this handicap accessible park). I turned around and said, as nicely as I could, "We have to have some perks for having a handicap son in a wheelchair." Her faced turned white and she quickly walked away.

I actually said it out loud. I was still flustered because I said it.

Check out our family blog for pictures of the day.

1 comment:

Courtney said...

that IS the best park! and serves that lady right...good for you! (is it bad that i feel that way??)