To the grown women on our Spring Break Southwest Airlines Flight who sat near my daughter who has a peanut allergy:
When you complained loudly that is wasn’t “fair” and it was “ridiculous” that the airline wouldn’t be serving their little bag of airline peanuts because someone on the flight had a peanut “allergy”, did you know that the girl who had the peanut allergy was sitting right behind you and heard every mocking word you said? Do you know how embarrassed she was that the whole plane couldn’t eat peanuts because of her? Do you know how upset she was when we got off that plane and told me the story?
Let me tell you a little about my daughter. She is the most positive person you will ever meet. She is a ray of sunshine and blesses everyone who knows her. She was diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy when she was 2. We carry an epi-pen with us wherever we go. By the age of 3 she was well-versed enough in her allergy to ask hostesses at parties what contained peanuts and what didn’t and then report to me (and then I of course double checked). She has missed out on countless birthday party food and class treats. She can’t eat ice cream at ice cream parlors because they dip the scooper in water that has been in other ice cream that may contain peanuts. So when friends go for ice cream, you know what she does? She watches them eat the ice cream and just hangs out with them. She can’t eat anything that was processed in a peanut facility, which excludes a lot of foods, and almost all chocolate. She was able to find a candy, warheads, that was her absolute favorite for years. They just changed to making their product in a peanut facility so that’s out now too. Halloween is a minefield for our family. She gets to keep about 5% of her candy. The good news is she has awesome friends who give her their share of what she can eat.
So do you want to talk about “fair” now? Because I can assure you she didn’t ask to be born with this allergy. And being born with this was not exactly “fair” either. But she has only complained about missing out on treats three times in her life that I can remember, and the complaints were very short lived. Maybe fair to you is you getting your handful of peanuts and my daughter missing Spring Break with her grandparents.
You see in our home, we like to count our blessings instead of dwell on hardships. I like to think we show grace and tolerance, and help those in need. We have all been very blessed and despite her allergy she goes on with life, checks food ingredients and moves on. It’s the hand she been dealt and she handles it like a trooper. Maybe you could learn a thing or two from her.
So I am sorry (not sorry) that your life has been made so hard by the deprivation of a palmful of peanuts on an airline flight. At least you got the pretzels that my daughter couldn’t have because they were made in a peanut facility. My 10 year old daughter has handled her allergy throughout her entire lifetime with more grace and dignity than both of you combined on a short airline flight.
Please think before you speak. These children did not choose their allergies, and when someone asks you to modify some small part of your life so their child won’t die, you might consider kindness.
From,
A mom who usually doesn’t usually get riled up about this, but seriously! A few airline peanuts!!!!
Mar
17
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