My Encounter With The LaTique Lady ...

Good Morning ...

So … I have been in need of a “nice trim” on the ‘ol eyebrows for a while and have been ignoring “them”! They are OUT OF CONTROL! Almost looks like I was growing shrubs on the front of my face … no … kidding … it wasn’t that bad … but, you know what I mean? … it always feels worse to you …. Anyhoo … pulled into this new place close to the house … LaTique Day Spa … went in and they had an immediate opening for a wax … SO … after filling out all the necessary paperwork and signing my life away … I actually looked up from filling all these papers out and asked the lady if all of this was necessary for just an eyebrow wax … she said yes, in case I came back to the “spa” for a treatment … ok … so … I filled them out … turned them back in … and in just a bit, a lady came out and motioned for me … she led me down a dark hallway and into this room … we got inside, she closed the door, looked at me sort of close to my face and said, I’m hearing impaired and I can’t hear you, I can only read lips …(because she was hearing impaired – it was hard to understand her, I guess because she had never heard her voice or anyone’s voice for that matter) so I said, OKAY … like getting any louder would make her understand me better! So … she said, just face me when you talk so I can read your lips … it was a little bit hard to understand her, so I was really having to concentrate on what she was saying so I could answer her … oh my … so … she would ask me a question … I had my glasses off, which I can’t hear good when my glasses are off, so … I was trying to comprehend what she was saying and I kept answering with a smile and a “uh huh” … you know the little noise you make in your throat without moving your lips! ... I kept forgetting she couldn’t HEAR ME! Okay … so after doing this a couple of times, I FINALLY realized I had to open and move my mouth! So… then, a few times I found myself wanting to “chat” with “small talk” and COULDN’T! So ... I just closed my eyes and started thinking … OKAY … so, I can hear myself inside myself … CAN SHE? She’s never heard herself talk before… so I wonder what her “thoughts” sound like … so then she came over and asked me another question while I was “thinking this” and I did it AGAIN! So I did the “OKAY” again … and thought … hmmm, wonder if I didn’t say anything and just mouthed my words – would she be able to tell? Okay … so then I thought … man she’s got a good job with this handicap she has to deal with … you know … when they put the HOT wax on and then RIP it off your face … She can’t hear you SCREAM “OUCH!” … And it did hurt a few times … and I thought … there’s no need for me to scream … she can’t sympathize with me anyway… SO … anyhoo … to make this LONG story a little shorter … in the end … I was pleased and left there with the NEED to stop and ‘smell the roses’ a bit … and not take for grated my hearing … bless her heart … she did a great job and was very appreciative that I smiled at her and “chatted” with her a bit before I left … YES, it was a bit difficult, YES, I had to concentrate a bit harder to understand her … BUT, it made me happy to know that she was smiling when I left …

So … I got out to the lobby to pay and the guy at the counter was the “owner” … and he said, “how did it go? … was everything to your satisfaction?” … I said, “yes” … then he said, “the girl who waited on you is 100% deaf, she can’t hear a thing!” …
I wanted to like get into this deep discussion of how appreciative I was for him giving someone like her “a chance”! Especially having to deal with the public and communicate in her job like she does! … but I didn’t … I just said everything was just fine.

Man … I REALLY had to concentrate in there … and as I was leaving, it seemed like she kept wanting to chat … SO … I was thinking … do others get irritated because they have the same difficulty understanding her, so they don’t give her the time of day? … Was it because I took the time to “listen” that she wanted to continue our "quiet conversation"? ... Hhhmmmm .... WOW ... really does make you stand back and take note of things that we EVERYDAY, well not just everyday, but EVERY Moment we sometimes take for granted! ... I left there with different "outlook" on things ...

SO ... our church was responsible for getting a a Praise Team together for a Spring Conference that we attended last night in McMinville, Tennessee. It was held at a high school auditorium. So after we sang, we were asked to sit on the stage behind the speaker, so when he was finished we could sing again... SO ... the speaker is about 1/2 way through his message when my phone, in my purse startings "singing" ... my ring tone right now is "Life Song" by Casting Crowns ... so you can imagine ... so I grab my purse, fiddle with the stupid curtain behind me to find the "exit" and run into a room backstage to answer my phone ... it was LeAnna - crying ... "Mommy, I need you ... come home ... I'm sick ... I have a fever .... my nose is running ... does Nana know how to get to where you are? ... WWAAAHHHH!!!!!!" ... So I try consoling her ... telling her I'm getting ready to leave in just a bit and I'll come home .... KNOWING I'm 2 hours away ...

Bless her heart ... what's a mommy to do? I wanted to be there right then! But couldn't ... all I could do was offer her a soft, gentle voice to help calm her down ...

And she did ... my Mom called me back on our way home and said she was asleep and not to worry ...

BUT ... this morning when LeAnna called to tell me to "Come and get her"! I spoke with my Mom and she said LeAnna had found a 5x7 picture of me and her, and fell asleep with it last night and then got it again this morning and was wagging it around! OH MY STARS!!!!! Bless her heart! So when she tells me this, I'm like wanting to jump in the car in my pj's and take off to get her ... But ... I'll put on my clothes first ... =)

Happy Saturday as I leave you with this random thought ...

"Half of being smart is knowing what you're dumb at".

... tammy