There was a girl named Crystal. She's really bright and happy and welcoming to everyone. She's more like an acquaintance, but I've talked to her before and she's really nice.
After the meeting ended everyone was chattering and gathering their things. Then they lit the candles on a cake and said, "Gather round!" I didn't know whose birthday it was but I was excited about the cake.
It was Crystals birthday. Oh cool I thought. She was smiling and all 15 or so people who were there sang happy birthday to her. She blew out the candles ad we all clapped. It was awesome. Then one of our group leaders asked Crystal, "What has been your best experience from joining Usana?"
Everyone was gathered and around and kind of hushed to hear what she had to say. I was stuck behind 4 people and couldn't see her very well. I heard someone up front say, "It's ok, it's your birthday you can cry if you want to" and everyone started laughing, but then got quiet again. I managed to look, and she was actually crying. She was smiling and wiping the tears away trying to clear her voice to speak. The group leader asked, "What was your birthday like last year?" Crystal said, "I didn't have one". Crystal is 17. I was like awwwww... poor Crystal.
I've never seen anyone cry over just getting a cake before. But it wasn't the cake she was crying for. If you were there in the room and you knew what life was like for a lot of people there you would know, she wasn't crying over the cake. Being embraced, appreciated, and accepted is overwhelming -especially when society convinces us and we convince ourselves we are nothing special.
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