108. “Don’t be a crybaby today, okay?”

Ed came to Therapy to boss PT37 around.
“Psst! The answer is ‘C.'”

Ed said this to me the morning after I fell in public for the first time.  We had gone to a favorite restaurant for lunch, and since we were on our way home from PA, I needed to visit the little girl’s room.  The restaurant is small and narrow, and the patrons saw me thumping down the aisle with my cane and did their best to minimize the space they were occupying so I could pass by.

I appreciated their efforts, but they turned out to be inconsequential.  I was making my way to the back when I lost my balance and knocked against the tables where I set bento boxes and cups of green tea swaying.  Thankfully, nothing was overturned except my pride, and Mom and Dad swept me into the back of the restaurant where I could hide behind a little curtain.

I’m embarrassed, I told Mom in my high school French.  I was so upset by the incident I couldn’t talk about it in English.  Mom sympathized with me but also informed me that we were going to go back out to the dining room, rejoin Dad, and have a nice lunch.  And that’s exactly what we did.

When we got home, however, I immediately took to my bed and cried my eyes out.  Such indulgence was offensive to Ed, however, so he sent me off to face the world on the following morning by saying, “Don’t be a crybaby today, okay?”