Sometimes it's Not About Down Syndrome (Repost)

This post is another repost from a story I shared seven years ago.

Last week Kayla and I went in to Boston's to pick up the gluten-free pizza I ordered for her.

Kayla, being Kayla, was all over the place. Ok, not too bad this time actually, just up and down from the bench and being very talkative. So the employee at the door couldn't help but notice her.

Several minutes later the pizza was finally ready and we were on our way out.

This employee, an older teen I think, or in her young 20s (I'm not good at guessing ages!), made a comment to me about Kayla.

She said, "She reminds me of my friend's niece." I said something like, "oh she does?" She replied, "yeah she looks like her."

If you have a child with Ds and someone makes a comment like that, 99.9% of the time they are trying to tell you they know someone with Down syndrome.

As I told my mom later - it's like a 'code' phrase to say "Oh I have a sister, cousin, friend etc, that looks like her" or something along those lines.

So it felt only natural to me to reply, "Oh she has Down syndrome too?"

The employee said, "Umm, no. She has blue eyes, blond hair, and the same kind of haircut." (we had just come from getting Kayla's hair cut shorter.)

Oops.

Guess I learned a lesson - it's not always about Down syndrome when it comes to my child...and that's nice to know.