Content
Our Waiter this weekend had a stutter I’m nearly 45 years old and I’ve stuttered all my life. As kid and into my early 20s it was fairly severe. Mine manifested as a distortion of my mouth and tongue and maybe a bit of a pinching of the face as I try to find the breath and the word. Through relaxation techniques, practice and aging, I’d say it’s very mild now. On bad days it’ll hit me. Days when I maybe had a bit too much to drink the night before, etc… for the most part I’m fluent though. Anyway, on Saturday I went with my family to a local hamburger place and our waiter had a pretty mean stutter. Probably 17-19 years old if I had to guess. Very similar to the tics I used to have. He would also roll his eyes up as he worked through what he wanted to say. You guys, I was practically in tears I was so proud of this kid. What. A. Guy… he nailed it. He’s doing it right. Not letting the stutter hold him back or keep him shut in… using the empathy and humility his stutter practically insists he develop to be so attentive to us and my kids. The bravery and character… just blew me away. At the end of our meal I told him I was a life long stutterer, I understood how difficult what he was doing was and that I was exceptionally proud of him. I was definitely welling up. For any young ones struggling with this disability, please consider doing things like this. It is so hard, I know, but I t will go such a long way in helping you cope and grow as a person while learning to get this disability under control.