Not One Single Yes

Baby and I have resumed our walks, she still has a stuffy nose and the weather isn't quite spring but I know it's good for us. I try to spend at least a half hour walking outside, sometimes there is a destination and more often we wander. Today I was feeling a bit tired so we meandered uphill both ways to Starbucks in search of a perk. As I sat down with my coffee and baby with her bottle I couldn't help overhearing the conversation of two people I soon learned were physicists. I don't know if they just happened upon each other or if it was a prearranged meeting but from their conversation and her body language I could tell they didn't know each other well. I let Persephone down so she could explore a bit as is her wont..and so I could take a few uninterrupted sips of my coffee. Under my ever vigilant watch my daughter wandered over to the two. They stopped and politely said their "Hi's" and "Wow, how old is she, she's so well behaved, etc." I politely answered and steered my little pumpkin back to her bottle. While I was doing this the two started down another train of conversation, this time the topic was children.

She asked him if he had kids, he said no he doesn't like them and went into the specifics of why he didn't like them. Persephone decided that this was an opportune time to play fetch...as a parent you may know this game..Child throws toy-->someone picks said toy/item up and this is repeated until one party decides the game has run its course. It's never the child! But to the topic at hand, this kind gent picks up her bottle and I thank him and put it down. The woman asks me, "Aren't you going to give it back?" I say, "No." She makes this sad puppy face (that was particularly unexceptional on her..middle aged mug) and says, "It's a game." At this point I tell her, "Baby dropped it because she's bored and does not want it."

From there it got a bit confusing, baby was wiggling, two women came in... who knew the one who was talking to me, and the man sat down very near to me. Basically they formed a circle around me and the little one. The two biddies that just arrived were exclaiming over baby, the woman physicist was tut tutting me, and trying to convey to me that baby doesn't know better and that the fetch game is a game...I started to feel attacked, reproved, like I was somehow doing something wrong. Also I felt judged by my physical appearance, age, color. She made comments like, "Well, when you're raising a child alone, you can start to feel like she's misbehaving on purpose."

Whoa! What? I managed to convey that I don't feel like she's misbehaving but that I'm not playing with her. I knew what the next action would be if I returned the bottle and I wasn't interested in playing this game so I would redirect her attention elsewhere. While the male completely understood what I was saying, the woman still seemed reproving.

I should have mentioned that I am not a single parent, that you cannot judge my economic standing by my style of dress..(I'll admit to running out of the house looking rather..ragged)..MOSTLY I REGRET not saying.. *Bitch, you don't know me!! Mind yer bumboclat business, Do you have kids? Have you raised anyone from the day they came out of your body? Is this why you're meeting men at Starbucks asking them if they want children? HAVE YOU SEEN YOUR FACE, or your juice box figure? I can make a snap assessment of your life based simply on outward appearances and boy it's not pleasant*...At that point the male took out a cookie and the women started talking amongst themselves. Mind you, this was in a matter of moments, they we're still saying, "Hello's." I didn't want Sephy to see the cookie (she believes all food is hers) so I excused myself and we left.

As we were walking home, I began to feel...well, upset. Mostly because, my child IS well behaved..and she didn't come out like that. It's a process! Sephy held and drank her bottle the whole way home...without tossing it!

To conclude, what I took from this is a bit of knowledge, everyone says it, but it bears repeating!!! I am the parent, I know whats best for MY child! Like any unwanted or even wanted advice it's best to listen to all and make up your own mind...and Stay Polite..out loud..