Just be yourself...the outcome will be great!

As promised there is more to the story about little life long friend, Ryan!

In my car, on our way back to Whitehall Ryan asked what I wanted to be professionally when I was a kid. I explained......I am working at the job I wanted when I was 15 years old. He was intrigued and asked what an Occupational Therapist did. We discussed similar helpers that helped him at school.

Again, this was not the conversation I was expecting to have when Ryan said he wanted to ride with me in my car. But I really wasn't prepared for what we discussed next.

He explained to me there was a classroom in his school for kids that needed help with learning. Then he proceeded to tell me about his really cool friend Dylan. He said everybody loves my friend Dylan, he has more friends than anybody else in school and he has cerebral palsy.

I responded by asking if he knew why I walked and talked differently than everyone else. He very maturely said "Yes, because you have cerebral palsy just like Dylan does." It was just very natural for him. I was thinking.....how did he know all about this? I had forgotten these life long friends of mine needed an explanation of what was up with me and my differences (which is just the reason why they're considered friends for life).

I've always wondered why the kids in my personal life don't have as many questions as the kids I see and work with everyday at school. For many of these kids I have been around since the day they were born, so they just see me as "Kim" (many of them call me Kimmie) and don't know that my motor output should be the same as other adults. As Ryan and I were having our conversation, I began to realize that some of my closest friends have more than likely have answered questions or talked to their kids about why I am "different" than other friends. Which there are no better people to be sensitive about how to explain my CP. These are friends who know me for me first rather than seeing or thinking about my challenges. So, it's only natural that their kids to act the same way.

We veered off topic and discussed bullying and Ryan's perception was "We're all the same....it's not like any of us are aliens or anything." I shared with him that my perception of bulling was the fact that it's pretty amazing we are all different, because if we were the same, it would be boring.

Then we continued to talk about Dylan.....apparently the coolest kid in school. And I told Ryan "Well, you never know, you and Dylan....." he interrupted me and said "Could end up being friends forever, just like you and my mom."

Later that night Lori told me Dylan is a cool kid and he told Ryan he gets really mad when people treat him differently than other friends.  And Ryan asked him if he was one of the people that did that and Dylan was able to say no.

So, there you have it by being myself around people I am comfortable with and care about I have been able to help a friend's child mature into a genuine friend who has an open mind. And because Ryan is very good at being who he is, showing he strengths as a good friend to others and expressing all of this totally made my day!