Day #42 – “ True Innocence Of A Child & A Smirking Smile Brought Happiness To My Face Today ”

Someone asked me a question today… I was humbled by the look on the total strangers face when they looked at me through their curiously questioning innocent eyes…

I was asked how I find the strength to smile at people and wish them a happy day when I am obviously struggling with pain that is at times unmeasurable?

Firstly my story began when I was sitting alone at a park watching my children rough and tumble together as they played ball in the not so far off distance.

Innocent eyes were looking at me and I could see a question or three begging to be answered as I looked up from my writings on my phone.

Why do you have wheels on your chair said the shy voice of a little girl shyly clinging to her mother’s leg…

I overheard her mummy say, don’t be rude…

I caught onto the little girl’s mothers gaze as she too shyly looked away… I learned through a few questions that her name was Aimee… telling her how to spell her name in her answer.

How old are you? I asked Aimee… she replied I am 6…

Do you go to school? I asked Aimee… yes she said I am in kindergarten… smiling I told her that kindy class is where all the fun is had … smiling at her I said to her “I bet you have many friends.” She smiled and said she does…

Her questioning face came again… are you alone because you don’t have any friends… I smirked at her and said, “no hunni I have many friends”… I told her that I was at the park watching as my children played in the park… playing ball..zip lining and take pictures for a photography assignment…pointing out the silhouetted shapes of my children off in the distance.

Can you play still? …. I looked at mum who introduced herself as Michelle…. “yes Aimee I can play, I can walk also …. just slowly and at times a little unsteady”

I looked at Michelle & Aimee and told them that I had Multiple Sclerosis… Aimee was curious… what is Multiple Sclerosis….?

I noticed that Michelle had earphones connected to her phone… so I asked pointing at them, could I… Michelle handed her earphones to me and I began telling Aimee that the earphones were her … Showing her by playing with them making shapes … showing her that they happy playing and running in the sun…

I then show her the earphones tied up in a knot that this was me …. looking a little messy but still able to play and make shapes…

I told Amee that the earphones had a few strands of wires running from the earplugs to the end that plugs into her mum’s phone… I told her my wires are a little broken or have broken pieces…. that when my wires are broken that the music may not play correctly through the earphones, that one side may work and the other may not….. I told Amee that music plays in me because I won’t let my broken wires break me…

Aimee smiled and said mum know what’s wrong with your phone and earphones now… I told you that I didn’t break your earphones when I used them as a skipping rope… they have Multiple Sclerosis…

Aimee ran off to play on the swing… happy to know that skipping with her Mothers earphones wasn’t the reason why they no longer worked… I couldn’t help but laugh as I saw Michelle look up and say, kids, hey!

Michelle said thanks for talking with Aimee… & then asked how do you find the strength to smile at people and wish them a happy day when I am obviously struggling with pain that is at times unmeasurable?

Well, I said… there is no point in crying all the time I said… my body has been giving me signs of my Multiple Sclerosis for many years but has allowed me to raise my kids to an age where they were no longer 100% dependant on me… I told her that it’s been a manageable pain till the last few years and that my wheelchair was so that I can be part of people around me without the struggles that my walking brings me.

I told her that my active mind & many skills sets keep me from getting bogged down by the doom and gloom of my Multiple Sclerosis… happiness isn’t always within my smile I told Michelle… but crying only takes me away from beautiful moments like today.

I saw Michelle smile and I said some skipping rope hey…. she smirked and said yep! Both laughing I asked Michelle if I could write about our encounter in my daily blog writing… she asked me then… what will people see when they read your story… I said smiling hard at her … “They will see a little girl skipping with her Mums earphones… and they will see that they are no longer working because they have broken wires and now have Multiple Sclerosis…. laughing so hard… Amee joined us again… are you still mad at me mum? Michelle said, “no Amee… we both learned a lot today… sometimes earphone just stop working… we can always get another pair.”

I went back to my writing as Amee asked if she could now have the ice cream that she was told that she couldn’t have because she was naughty…. laughing again… Michelle again said, kids, hey! Such innocence in her simple life.

They thanked me for my story and began skipping off to their car. I watched as they sat in their car and drove out of sight… A small tear gathered at the corner of my eye… balling up and rolling down my cheek… a single tear and the simpleness of a young child’s storied interpretations… was the beginning to me writing this blog post.

“ True innocence of a child and a smirking smile brought happiness to my face today.”

Todays chosen pictured quote gave me a small slap back into reality. It through Aimee’s innocence has shown me that through the toughest of days that in the tomorrow’s that will follow that there is much beauty awaiting me after my body’s storms.

Today’s Pictured Quote:

“Even on the gruelling days
When reality bites too hard,
I may hang my head
For a little while
But my eyes
Are still full of stars.”
Author: A. Shea

“Thank you Aimee & Michelle for showing me that skipping was not the reason for my broken wires.”

Signed
Author. Tanya Kelly
365daysomethings.wordpress.com