To the mama whose son ate my cheeseburger at McDonald’s,
When I glanced over to our table full of food while filling our drinks, the last thing I expected was to see your almost teenage son dig into our food … Vigorously.
I may have startled you a bit with my quick, casual, yet regrettably confrontational, “Oh, that’s OUR food.” I’m not sure why I sounded so frantic, because it’s not like eating $12 of food is really that costly — and to be fair, your son only got to $1 worth. And, I do constantly tell my kids to share — this would have been an excellent teaching moment on the subject.
But instead of being calm and sharing, I called you out. Or rather, your son out.
I certainly wasn’t mean. But I wish I had just let it go.
Watching you later (after you had apologized multiple times and bought us a new cheeseburger), I realized that while you did deserve to be called out — it was not for the behavior of your son.
Your son was not reckless. He wasn’t rude or irresponsible.
Your son was differently abled.
I’m not sure in which way, and that doesn’t exactly matter.
