The Lie

I am on a mission to find a place outside my home to write.  Writing time often turns into bathroom cleaning time.  Today I auditioned a coffee shop close to my home.  It was just right.  I zipped along, free from scrubbing temptations.  A woman came in pushing a stroller, with a fresh baby strapped to her chest.  She ordered then sat nursing her baby while her toddler, toddled.  The little girl chewed bites of scone, took off her shoes, and pulled all of the posters for upcoming events off of the window.  A girls work is never done. 

A well dressed woman with her laptop came in carting what looked to be 8 months worth of fetus on the front of her.  She immediately asked the mother of two about her baby.  The nursing mother told her the infants age, disconnected her boob and covered up.  Her older child came up with a snotty nose to be wiped clutching a handful of crumpled napkins from another table.  Her mama silently cleaned her nose and confiscated the grubby treasure.  The pregnant lady wanted to know "how it was going?"  The veteran mother smiled sweetly, the giant bags of exhaustion under her eyes stretched to accommodate the expression, and said "Great." 

I wanted to jump up and yell "Liar liar pants on fire!"  But I didn't.  One, calling a stranger a liar at the top of your lungs in public is rude at best.  Two because it isn't a complete lie.  There are parts of living with the freshly born that are "great".  But more like "been through a worm hole life altering" or "beyond the stretch of my pre-child imagination" or "mind bogglingly difficult".   

After some thought, I think the tired mama did the right thing.  Telling someone that close to the precipice of parenting that they are about to have their ass handed to them, would just be mean. 

Comments

[FC Brandt]

I love "8 months worth of fetus..." and "beyond the stretch of my pre-child imagination". The first is just funny, and the second because of the (unintentional?) pun.