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December 15, 2009
ringing endorsement
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!"
posted by john at 9:50 AM • permalink