ringing endorsement

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Tammy is not what you would call deep. She's not what she would call deep. So when she told me the following story, I was surprised and moved. Her child is autistic and, for all intents, died at two. The smiling, chatty child who'd previously existed is gone, and a hyperactive, unresponsive zombie is in her place. It's heartbreaking to watch.

"We visited some friends the other night," Tammy began, "And they have a healthy five year old boy. I was playing with him and he was jabbering away about dinosaurs and...well, I just started to cry." And then she started to weep in front of me. Huge, racking sobs.

I was touched and impressed. Wow. These are previously unsuspected depths of feeling from Tammy. I really had her pegged wrong. I had no idea she felt-

"THEY HAVE IT SO MUCH EASIER THAN ME!" she wailed.

Ah. Order to my universe: restored. Self, I'm sorry for ever having doubted you.

• • •

Half an hour later, Tammy is telling me about a girlfriend who asked about me. "She's really pretty. And-"

"You had me at 'really pretty.' What's she like?"

"Oh god! She's exactly like ME! She's like my TWIN! We complete each other's sentences all the time!"