The thing about staring

Last year I was in a Wal*Mart check out line, when a boy in front of me pointed and loudly said,"Mom what is that". His mother ignored him so he grabbed her shirt and pointed again and again. "Mom what IS that, just LOOK at it." This customer had a full cart and this went on for three minutes. Nobody, including me, said anything. I was near tears when it became our turn at the counter. The cashier cheerily said, "what a cute little boy". Cute, really! I was fighting back tears by then and had to turn away to hide my face. As we walked out I lost it, holding onto the cart I sobbed all the way to the car.

That may seem like an over reaction, I mean the child was six or so and I was a 30 year old woman for goodness sake.
The reason it hit me so hard, is that nothing like that had happened to me in years. Growing up people stared all the time and if it got bad my mom would stick up for me. This rude child and his equally rude mother came out of nowhere and pimp slapped my self esteem in seconds. I was mad later, but at the time was so shocked I froze.
I think part of living with albinism is the constant vigilance required when dealing with people. I LOVE when people come up to me and ask if I am albino. I am proud of it, I have never been ashamed, but I sure can feel like crap sometimes.