I too have made a new friend recently. It was someone at work who used to drive me up the wall, and the reasons make me feel pretty bad because I’m such a hypocrite. She has ADHD as well as dyslexia and it looks like both problems are more severe for her than my ADHD or math dysability is for me. When I started on the job I made the terrible mistake of letting other people’s opinions of her influence my own and I was far more annoyed with her struggles than I would have been otherwise. She also dresses in a way that is kind of startling. She’s worn a circus ring leader’s jacket to work before. But really, why the hell not? We work at a DAYCARE! She’s doing a colouring contest with the kids in the kinder room to decide what colour her hair is going to be next. How cool is that?
Really though, besides the issues with how annoyed I was when she had problems the other issue was that I only saw her when she was struggling. She has a hard time being as firm with the children as she needs to be so they walk all over her. But I’ve been watching since and man do the kids have fun with her! And we’ve started walking to the transit centre since the weather got better so I’ve gotten to know her better. She’s such a sweetheart and very creative.
She’s doing a bit better now that she knows she has at least one person at work who cares about her and genuinely likes her. It’s really helped with her confidence, I think. I am just worried about her because there might be layoffs soon and I can tell you for sure she’s first in line at the chopping block. 