Monday, January 30, 2012

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

In my previous post, I mentioned our cashier, Sarah. She can tell by the groceries in our cart whether or not our boys will be home, if we're trying out a new recipe AND that we follow a gluten free diet. She's not the only one at our local store to notice. Several of the managers and baggers ask about the products we buy, and why we buy them, too. This weekly "educational" opportunity has turned into a blessing for one of their co-workers who was recently diagnosed with Celiac. Now, everytime they see a new product in my cart, they ask about it. When Thanksgiving came around, they asked me what products they could stock in the store that would make it easier for me (and her) to enjoy our holidays.
She and I exchange recipe ideas and taste-test horror stories, and I have several new blog readers lurkers. *Shout out to all my WRPers*

Educational moments pop up all over my neighborhood. I work in a local theme park as a sign language interpreter and there are goodies and snacks in just about every break room on property. I always graciously decline the offer of a cookie or crackers and dip..."It's not you, I'm gluten free."
Now I've worked with some of these folks for nearly 10 years so they've seen my ups and downs over the years so of course they ask..."does that help you?"
And so the educational opportunity begins...we talk food, we talk poop, we talk pain-free living...and inevitably someone says..."that sounds like me."
I'm quick to remind I'm no doctor, I don't even play one on tv (although one of my co-workers does), but if they're experiencing symptoms, it's worth a talk with their doctor. More often, someone says,"Hey, I know someone who has to eat GF"...and another lurker is born :)

We visit some local restaurants as a fam and all the servers know I'll be grilling them about their grilling techniques and what is in their sauces. We've frequent our regular haunts often enough that now they come to me..."hey we just got this in...try this new sauce and let us know what you think...my sister's kid was just diagnosed with celiac, what's your blog link again?"

Heh...I just realized I made my neighborhood sound kind of creepy with a buch of lurkers loitering about ;)

The moral of the story?
Wear your GFness on your sleeve...you never know who is lurking about :)



a sweet litle side note...
I'm a CODA and grew up just loving Linda Bove on Sesame Street because she is Deaf, like my parents are, and because she was on TV, my house didn't seem quite so weird to the other kids on the playground. I had the opportunity to meet Ms. Bove when I interpreted a conference in Philadelphia...definitely took the opportunity to thank her for influencing kids everywhere, hearing and Deaf, that the "people in your neighborhood" are ALL people, whether they can hear or not.

And I'm sorry you're all singing this silly song now
well...not really sorry, but you know what I mean :)

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