I think someone must have put a sign on me in some inconspicuous place that said, "Come talk to me if you're crazy".... Okay, I know that post-partum depression is real but is there a such thing as post-partum craziness? What you are about to read may possibly have been one of the strangest interactions I've ever had.... Try to stay with me on this one.. It's a good one.
I was in Rite Aid picking up my deals of the week because the new sales start tomorrow. I need to make a post about my new coupon clipping habit. I am so addicted. I've been getting stuff for free and it's so much fun...
Anyway, I was pushing Chloe in the shopping cart and Adam and Emma had gone over to the dollar store next door. And this girl comes up behind me and says, "hey, how old is she?" Now it's a pretty common thing for people to ask how old your baby is. Everyone likes comparing babies... not a big thing. I looked down at Chloe, fluffed her hair and said, "she will be eleven months old on the thirtieth".. She said, "when does it get easier". She then points to the carrier that she has sat on the floor with what looked like a tiny baby in it to me and said, "he's six weeks old. It occurred to me that maybe this girl was suffering from post-partum depression and had been stuck in the house with no adult conversation and she saw someone with a baby that she thought might be able to relate to her. So, I decided to try to be the therapy that she needed. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it gets even harder when they become a two year old so I said, "it will be easier when he starts sleeping through the night." She then says, "He's big isn't he". Well, he looked tiny to me but to be fair, a young baby is probably going to seem very small to me right now since Chloe has grown so much so I said that to her.. Now her approach to me was pretty strange to begin with but this is not an isolated incidence for me. It happens regularly to me that someone will walk up to me and strike up a conversation like they've known me for life. I've always just thought it was a good thing to be approachable and haven't given a ton of thought to the matter. So, the conversation continues with her asking, "how much do you weigh?" Now I must have had a little bit of a confused look on my face because she followed that up with, "if you don't mind me asking". And really, I don't mind telling anyone my weight. I'm pretty much one of those people that tells it like it is. I've been described as everything from refreshingly transparent to blunt and no telling what behind my back :). I just figure that the world is full of people that are trying to look like they've got it all figured out and I truly treasure the friends in my life that I know are being real with me.. So pretty much, what you see is what you get. No surprises here. But I was however, trying to figure out if I misunderstood her and she wanted Chloe's weight since we had just talked about the size of her baby. So once I figured out that she was talking about my weight, I told her 135 lbs. Now I must say, I feel pretty good about weighing 135 lbs. I weighed 140 when I got pregnant with Chloe so I figured 135 was pretty good. I mean, I won't be sporting a bikini um ever. But, I feel like that's a good healthy weight.. So she says to me, "well I'm 115 pounds and the doctor wants me to gain 10. Do you think I'd be too fat if I gained 10 pounds". I started to say, "well, do you think I'm too fat since I weigh 20 more than that?" But instead, I just said no.. So then she says, "well how does your husband feel about your weight?" To which I said, "my husband is great, he never says a word to me about my weight". She went on for about 10 minutes talking about how she had friends who's husbands told them they would leave them if they gained weight and all of these people she knew that had eating disorders and that she did think she'd be prettier in the face if she gained a little weight and that it might make her look younger. She also said something about "those girls that live up on the hill". I explained to her that I had only lived here for two months and she gave me a patronizing look like I was ever so green and naive about the area... And then she said, "so your husband doesn't care that you're not toned?" Any kind of clever comment left me at this point because I guess I was just in shock.. So I just said, "no, he seems to be fine with me just the way I am". And then she just turned and walked away.. And I called out, "well you have a nice afternoon"...
And so what did we learn from this? I've got a wonderful husband and it's a good thing because I'm sure not toned... And, there are some crazies in South Carolina..
