Yesterday JL and I had the pleasure of meeting a very well-intentioned but opinionated checkout woman at the local Kroger. Imagine us, minding our own business at the self-checkout line, scanning my cups of Carb Master yogurt and a few loaves of lite bread when we hear behind us "wow, you must be ready to give birth at any minute!" I politely reply "well, we've got about 4 weeks left, so it could be anytime" and then turn back to our groceries...
"That is one big baby in there! " We turn again. "Are you sure you're not having twins?" "That baby must be at least 10 pounds." "Your doctor really thinks that's a normal sized baby??!!" "You know, you're already at nine months - they let 'em go to ten months these days."
The commentary continues to go on for a good two minutes, with JL intently focused on finishing the scanning, avoiding all eye contact and chuckling in disbelief, while I continue to politely engage in the conversation, feeling ever so aware of my sugary status.
It finally ends once this well-intentioned woman switches gears and tells us a story about a long-time customer who appeared in the store with a baby one day. She had thought, certainly, this must be the woman's grandchild, but just to make sure she didn't offend, she asked "is that your baby?" And it was. And she was so glad she didn't make the mistake of putting her foot in her mouth and saying something offensive. At the end of her story, JL says "well, I guess that just goes to show you always have to be careful what you say to pregnant women."
And she laughs and agrees, totally oblivious.
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