Today I felt like one of "those" mothers.
You know, the ones whose whole lives revolve around their kids and who get looked down on in public by other, kid-less adults?
I took my car in to be worked on this morning (that's a whole, long other story I won't deign to bore you with). Sam and I first had to wait in line to drop off my keys, and then we had to hang out in the waiting area for about an hour until my sister-in-law rescued us.
Thankfully, this place has some pretty good toys in the waiting room: a big Lightning McQueen car, a princess carriage with a tea set inside, Legos, and various annoying toys that make noise, among others. So Sam was pretty much all set.
In the dingy, greasy waiting room with us: a young guy, maybe early 20s, who was athletically built and dressed in clothes with no stains or holes and who didn't glance at Sam more than once; and another man I swear was the inspiration for the main character in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin."
In short, these were guys without kids.
Sam had to use the potty three times while we were there, something she of course announces at the same volume as everything else she tells me. I could feel these guys sigh.
Sam revved Lightning McQueen around for quite a while, once managing to rev it past the younger guy's foot with mere inches to spare. It bumped into a shelf beside him and stopped. Sam apologized and got the car; no reaction or response from the guy.
Sam wanted me to play with her, so I camped out on a miniscule chair, building towers and dragons and puppies out of Legos (which is a massive stretch of my artistic ability, trust me) to keep her happy. Once, I saw the older guy casting me a sidelong, dirty look that seemed to say, "Ugh, and she's pregnant with another one!"
At one point, I just wanted to scream: "I know my eyes are puffy and my hair's a little unkempt and I'm not wearing any makeup" (I got my usual three hours of sleep last night) "and I'm pregnant, but I'm not what I look like right now! I was the first person in my family to go to college, and I graduated third! I manage an entire newsroom at night! I'm a female editor in a largely male-dominated field! I'm proud of that, and I'm proud of this little girl!"
I didn't scream. I didn't have to explain myself to those people who were making me feel like my well-behaved little girl and I were the biggest annoyance they'd ever seen.
If they don't know what it's like to have kids, that's their choice. I think they're missing out. And I feel bad for them that they have to make women who work their butts off to take good care of their kids feel like crap.
So there. *sticking out my tongue*
Have you ever felt like this in public? How did you deal with it?
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