I just had to put this in a separate post.

Sunday when we arrived at the beach, there was a little girl playing on the sand, I think she was maybe around 7 or 8. Very cute and pretty.

Her grandmother was watching from the shore, while catching up on some reading.

She asked if her granddaughter could play with Miss C since "she loved playing with smaller girls".

I of course said yes.

As a mom of a child with learning disabilities I immediately noticed something was quite not right with the girl. She reminded me soooo much of Miss C. But it wasn't something any regular eye could notice.

After a while I went in the water with them and played a bit, pretending we were all sorts of fish and water creatures, they both laughed and giggled.

Then we sat on the shore a bit.

Her other grandmother came and said: "Get in the water a little while, you shouldn't be taking in all that sun".

I quickly offered some of Miss C's sunblock.

Her grandmother turned to me with a smile and said:

"Oh no thank you.", she leaned in and continued, "She is a little retarded girl and I have to continuosly tell her to get in the water or she'll burn to death".

She said it so casually, so non-chalant.


I was speechless. I, who would usually say something back, was speechless.


I was disgusted. How can she refer to her like that with such disdain with such, yuck.
First of all, the girl showed no signs of being retarded.


She was a bit shy at first, but she engaged in converstation, she asked me if I was Miss C's mom, what grade was she in, she told me she was in a special classroom, she wanted to be a dolphin when we played in the water...that does not seem retarded to me.


Her grandmother left and her sister (a teen about 16) came over to watch over her.


We went in the water and played some more. Her sister watched and smiled at me. And laughed when she saw us playing in the water and playing with her sister. Something about her smile told me she was happy, that maybe for once, her little sister was being treated like what she was: a child.