Mariah came home from school and told me about her day and something unusual.
She has lunch everyday with her friends, but earlier this week a new friend they did not know was added to their lunch table. She is an autistic girl who usually paces during lunch and several days ago Mariah and her friends invited her to join them at their table, she is their new friend.
The girl has a hard time remembering names so she calls them by what she see's physically.She calls Haley "bows"because she always wears headbands with a bow on it. She calls the other "hipster" because she is a model for Hollister; however she never calls Mariah anything.
Today they ask her what Mariah's name is. The girl gets up and paces a while and comes back and says a foreign word the girls didn't recognize and they ask, "what does that mean?"
She said, "the place of God."
Stunned and a bit rattled as it is no secret Mariah is very strong in her faith among her friends, they ask her why if they have names that are physical reminders, why did Mariah get such a name?
The girl simply walked away.
How unusual.
I can only wonder what it is the girl sees or feels to give my daughter such a grand name.
