Assumptions and headscarves!

I received an email from a friend this week.

I hadn't seen her for a while and we have been trying to catch up but somehow not managed.
That said we bumped into each other last Saturday at the local pantomine! Oh yes we did (sorry couldnt resist!) and had a quick chat.

Then a few days later I received a note. One of the lines buried in the text said this:

"Have been meaning to touch base with you over last few days. I wanted to say hi and check in on how you are doing. Didn't know you'd been sick but am guessing you have been."

I replied quickly mentioning that I had had a tummy bug, but all was good now.

A few moments later, after sending it off, I suddenly realised that I had misunderstood the message. She would not have known about my tummy bug. So what was she referrring to? Had I looked ill? Pale? Dark eyes?

I then realised it would have been my headscarf. You see I had only met this friend during the week, after work etc, she had probably never seen me with my headscarf on!

I went on to join the dots. She was assuming that I had been undergoing chemotherapy and as a consequence lost my hair and was now donning a head scarf! Oh! The light bulb went on!

We had never talked about my hairloss nor had I mentioned I had alopecia!

I then quickly sent her another message asking her more about her first message.

And yes she had joined the dots up wrong, and I had missed the link!

So another alopecia moment.  And this one was actually a gross misunderstanding. I am glad I had the hindsight to see what I had missed and also I am glad she had the courage to not ignore my different appearance.

Assumptions and headscarves eh!

So the morale of the story, think more about a message that seems a little odd and secondly have the courage to ask when someone looks different.