Over the weekend our family planned a trip to Charlotte. Neal's parents live there and I had also made plans for Lilly to meet another little girl with Alopecia.
We got to Charlotte around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. We all played in Grandma Rosy's & Grampy's yard. The grownups had a lot of fun, as well as the children.
We left around 5 o'clock to meet Lilly's new friend and her family. Her mother and I decided chicfila would be a good place to eat, play, & talk. We pulled in Chicfila behind our new friends and the mother (I will call her K) greeted me with a smile and a hug (she's my kind of girl). It felt as if I had known her for a long time. Of course, the girls were very shy but as soon as it was play time the shyness left the building and they were hugging at the end of the night. While the children played, K, her husband (I will call him A), Neal, & I talked for more than 2 hours. Of course, the topic was Alopecia & how it related to us and our children. When I spoke with K, it was like we felt the exact same emotions about our daughters's disease. I
FINALLY found someone who knew exactly what I was going through. And Lil' finally found someone that is like her. That has been the hard thing with this disease, everyone is sympathetic, not empathetic & I needed someone to know exactly what was going on in our home. And Lilly Bell needs someone who is just like her. Whether or not they talked about their hairloss, I do not know. But I do know that they have the comfort of knowing someone like themselves. And that is priceless.
It was nice to speak to K about the "roller coaster" ride of Alopecia, the hassle of the medications, the insomnia, bullying, hours & hours of research, numerous doctors visits with one answer-"It's unpredictable", resources, wigs, therapy, etc. At one point K said something very serious & Neal began to laugh. Of course, it was embarrassing (as always, because this is a very bad habit for Neal). K just smiled & I said to Neal "What are you laughing about?" It took him a couple of seconds to answer but his answer went something like this, "I just think about K sitting up at 11 o'clock at night on the computer in bed (& he gestures the typing motion) & A trying to sleep. It is just like what Danielle does while I am trying to sleep." And that is the point when the guys realized they had a lot in common, too. They both jokingly agreed that they needed to make an Alopecia World for husbands, of wives of children with Alopecia. It was funny.
We ended our meeting with hugs & plans to meet again. I also, invited their family to come see us and we would go to the beach during the summer. We are really looking forward to seeing them again.
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