Upper Deck AEW 2021 Trading Card Opening

 

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

     There is a lot I could say about the subject matter, but there is one incident that has weighed heavy on my heart and my mind, and I just wanna take the time to express my feelings on the it. After all, that's what a blog is supposed to be, right?

    A few weeks ago, my wife, Wylinda, had a seizure. Now, typically when she has them, she will be disorientated and groggy afterwards, as anyone who has had them will tell you, but she will come out on the other side as normal as can be. She's had seizures all her life as she was born epileptic. On this occurrence, however, she's been having trouble with her speech, only getting out fractions of sentences before having trouble saying certain words or phrases. She's had trouble in the past, but again after rest, she would return to normal. At the time of the incident, it concerned me, as I hope it would concern anyone. I urged her to relax and get rest, hoping that it would correct itself.

    Only a few days after the seizure and no change in her speech, we had a visit with her family doctor to discuss the matter. We were informed that with seizures, swelling can occur in the brain to cause the speech production and articulation to be strained, and that the inflammation will reduce over time. So, we took that as we could. Allowing her to rest and be as comfortable has always been my top priority with these past few years as her condition has progressed to where it is now, but that is a story for another time. 

    The initial seizure happened on July 7th, the 9th we went to see her family doctor. As of today, the 19th the labor of speech has yet to right itself.

    Now that I have gotten that out of the way, now to the point of this. 

    Wylinda and I had to go out Saturday to Walmart in the Mishawaka area to do some grocery shopping. We were going to hold off until early Sunday, but we were both in the mindset to go and get it done so we didn't have to worry about it later. While we were there, Wylinda and I would have conversations as we normally do. She asked if we could sop by the Crafts section to look for thread for sewing, and I commented that I have yet to find a Turboman. 

    At some point during our outing, Wylinda overheard someone say 'She must be retarded'. She didn't mention it to me at the time. We went about the rest of our shopping trip as normal, discussing what we needed for our home and meals.

     It wasn't till later that night she mentioned it. Laying in bed getting ready for sleep, she asked me, 'Am I retarded?' In shock, I replied no. I didn't know where this was coming from until she explained what she had heard. I tried to explain to her that whoever said this doesn't know her, and doesn't know what she's been through. All they know, all they see, is someone who is in a wheelchair with a speech problem. They don't know the depth and lengths of what she's gone through medically and in her life. After consoling her for a little time, she finally calmed down enough to sleep.

    Sunday, the next day, she told me it still weighs heavy on her heart and mind, still giving into what the person had said. We went to bed last night saddened by this despite trying to comfort her again. Try as I might have, I know when she wakes up today, Monday, it will still be on her mind.

    The point of this article is this. You don't really know. You don't really know what someone has gone through just based on what you see, based on what's on the outside. To many, they may see her in a wheelchair and with a speech impediment, but what I've seen and heard she has gone through in her life, it tells a different story. As someone once said, 'We're all stories in the end.' It's up to us to look past on what we see and truly understand where the people we meet have been.