Today was one of those days that Gavin needed to come home after school for a few hours.  I figured I would just take him with me to the grocery store. 

This would not only limit his time in the house, but also provide me with a chance to work on those real life skills he’ll need if he’s ever to live independently.

When I got to the school and Gavin came out, I was a bit caught off guard to see him dresses in an Iron Man costume.

Apparently, it was a special day at school and the kids were allowed to dress up as a superhero.

Gavin was really proud of his costume and so I didn’t have the heart to make him take it off before going into the grocery store.  Maybe I should have, I don’t know.  I just didn’t see the harm.  If he was happy, I was okay with it. 

After telling Gavin that we were going to the store, I gave him every opportunity to remove the costume prior to going into the store. 

I told him that it’s totally up to him and he wants to wear it in the store, that was okay with me. 

Secretly, I was really, really hoping he would take it off but he decided that he would wear it. 

For the record, my concern for him wearing the costume was more about how people were going to react and what they would say.  When  it comes to my kids, I have a very very low threshold for people coming down on them for being who they are.

We did our grocery shopping.  A small budget means it didn’t take too long, which was a blessing at this point. 
I was wearing my Lost and Tired shirt and so some people understood better than others.  The looks both Gavin and I got were absolutely ridiculous.  I mean, we were in Walmart of all places. The whole “people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”  thing comes to mind. 

Some people smiled, while others laughed and pointed. 

I felt so bad for Gavin because people were just not very understanding.

There were a few moments where he seemed to be hiding behind me so people couldn’t see him. Other times he just walked with pride.

As well we’re walking out of the store, some idiot made fun of him, in a very loud, very obvious way.  Thankfully, Gavin didn’t realize he was being made fun of. 

I’ll be completely honest.  It’s been a long time since I’ve had the desire to knock someone on their ass, and if I had any less self-control, I would have.  However, doing so would have only brought attention to what this guy had said and I would have had to explain that to Gavin. 

Then of course there’s the whole lead by example thing that I’m so fond of.

All I can say at this point to anyone of those people that sat in judgement of Gavin is,  how many of you would have had the courage to dress up as Iron Man and walk through Walmart?

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