Our Visitors

This particular Sunday, one of the couples had brought their parents from South America. They happened to be sitting next to us.

The seating arrangement was first me, then to my right was Cir; my husband. Next came the mother and her husband; who were visiting. Then came the wife and her husband; who were in our class.

Introductions

There were other visitors present, so everyone was asked to introduce themselves. The introductions began from where our group leader sat on the other side of the circle and finally made it around to us.

I said my little piece and Cir came next. Now Cir loves to talk and he sometimes tends to embellish things a little. This time was no exception.

"I'm not contagious."

"My name is Cir, that's just like sir but with a "C". He talked a little about me and our family, then added; "You may be wondering why I have a cane. Well, I have MS, but let me assure you, I'm not contagious."

From where I was sitting, it was very easy to see everyone in the circle. I laughed at Cir's joke and watched as everyone else did, too. Everyone except our visitor.

Ever so slightly, she leaned away from Cir and inched her bottom over as far to the right as she could get in her chair without falling out of it.

A little or maybe a lot, uncomfortable

The look on her face was worth a thousand words. She was very uncomfortable sitting their next to Cir. It probably took all she had to keep from getting up to leave right then.

Needless to say, she was extremely relieved when the group session ended and she could move to the other side of the room. And if I remember correctly, they left very quickly after class was over.

Cir didn't notice what she had done. And I waited until we got in the car and were driving home before I told him about it.

A good laugh

We had a good laugh then and occasionally think about it again for another good laugh.

If I'd thought it would do any good, I would have tried to explain to our guests what MS was. But that would have probably made it worse.

She didn't, (as I'm sure many others don't either), understand what multiple sclerosis is. If it were contagious, there would be many more people with it. Including spouses and family members living with someone who has MS.

Hopefully you won't have as difficult a time letting others know that MS isn't contagious. Or maybe it's just more fun to let them think otherwise...{wink}.




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