Thankful Thursday

I am thankful today. 

Today I had the pleasure of running into a young lady (I mean younger than me by 20 ish years--because I am still a young lady myself....) that I had not seen in many years.  I recognized her face right away but she had changed in that she had difficulty with her speech and walking was also difficult.  She had had a brain injury since I had last seen her. 

Although her outward appearance had changed, her inner self had not.  She was still that smart, active young girl that I knew.  She wanted to do things for herself and she could!  Just in a different way and more slowly.  I ran into her again at the gym where she was exercising by herself.  We chatted for a little bit as we both did our own thing.  She didn't like using the main gym because everyone wanted to help her.  She wanted to do it for herself. 

I am thankful that I had the chance to see her again and learn a lesson.  Due to her speech and walk, people (myself included) often pre-judge and assume that she needs (or wants!) help.  Assumes that she cannot do it for herself.  Assumes that her mental status is not what is was previously. 

It is natural to want to help those that don't do things as quickly as we would.  Or in the same way.  Or maybe we just want to answer the question for them because it is faster and after all, we are just helping.  But maybe helping is actually just letting them do for themselves.  Even if it takes longer. After all, everyone wants to be independent, don't we? 

I am also thankful for my health.  My ability to run, jump, see, speak, think--all those things that we normally never even have a single thought about.  We just wake up and things work like they should, so off we go.  We never take the time to think about how wonderful our body is and all the amazing things that it does for us each day. 

I had a reminder today.  So today, I am thankful.