Saturday, August 21, 2010

People

Being in Texas we are surrounded by all different races and cultures. We've had some funny experiences being out of the "bubble" (Provo, Utah- which has a lot of different races and cultures as well but it seems more prevalent here).

1. When we first got here we went to the Waffle House, which is a diner where there is a smoking and non-smoking section, which really is just one big smoking section because it's a small place. So our waitress was a latin woman, lots of latins in Provo, no big deal. She had shaved her eyebrows and drew them exaggerated with a maveish color eyeliner, I'm sure you've seen that done before. Apparently Lawson hadn't. He said to her, "your eyebrows are different." Fortunately, she was talking to Tyson to get our order and didn't hear him. So he said it louder, "your eyebrows are different!" I gave Lawson the "look" and told him to shush. Pretty sure she didn't understand what he was saying in the loud restaurant. After she left we gave him a little talk about how all people are different and we don't talk about the things they may have on their face or body. Just then someone lit up a cigarette behind him (we had seated ourselves in the smoking section because in Utah there is no smoking allowed indoors in public places and we didn't even think of it being different anywhere else- another shock!). Lawson said, "mom, that man's stick thing has fire on it" as he stared at the man smoking. Another little talk took place telling him about smoking (something we didn't see much of in the "bubble.").

2. I had to take the 3 kids with me to an appointment. We were seated in a cubicle talking to an African American lady and she was getting information from me. Lawson noticed her front gold tooth. He said, "Mom, that lady has a gold tooth. I want one!" The lady said, "Oh, you don't want one of these." Fortunately, she was cool about it and it turned out to be funny.

3. Today we went to a mall in Dallas to let the kids play on the play area they have up there. Because it was a Saturday, and the Saturday before school starts, and "tax-free in Texas" day, it was incredibly busy! There were tons of kids in the play area. I was looking around feeling a little homesick for Provo where there are more people like me- same beliefs, race, tradtions, etc. when I saw Lawson playing with this tiny little Indian girl (not Native American but actual Indian:)) who was just learning to walk. He was being so sweet with her and giving her hugs. At one point he was on his knees and she was standing up in front of him. She put her little brown hand on his pale pale face and, at that moment, everything was ok for me. I don't know if I had an epiphany or something but everyone around became children of God in my eyes and I felt a lot better. God works in mysterious ways and today he worked through Lawson and a precious little Indian girl!

2 comments:

Beckie said...

Oooh what a sheltered life we have all lived!! Way to be out there!

Anna said...

Oh momma! Loved this post. My brothers kids experienced much of the same in Oklahoma. They referred to them as "chocolate people" :)

And no lie, I got a tear in my eye with the part about lawson and the indian girl.
love you!
miss you!
come back to utah!