The Scrapbook - Photo 2

Here is the next part of the story. If you haven't read the beginning, it starts here.

Part 2:

Turning the page of the scrapbook and continuing on towards the arrival of Quinn, we see that the next photograph comes from my elementary school days. There is a photo of myself as a young girl attending the yearly Father’s Day family reunion picnic. I look around at the crowd and see a distant relative who cares for youth who are developmentally disabled. I have seen this woman before, but do not know her name. From this photograph it is obvious what I am thinking, I want to look, am drawn to look at them, but yet feel uncomfortable – like I shouldn’t be so interested. I wonder what it must be like to care for a child who has a disability. How would that feel? Why do people do it? Who is this woman, and why does she take care of these children? I try to concentrate on the conversation happening around me – to distance myself from these thoughts, but I keep going back to watching this woman and these youth. I feel uncomfortable, yet intrigued. Did I know deep down that someday this would be my fate? Or is this just a normal reaction when noticing those who are “different?” There is another twist of fate in my story – I was once the person who could not stop staring, and now I will be the one that others stare at.

-Karyn