About that last post… Last week was a doozy. My boss was stressed and had a serious case of male PMS. Which meant the rest of us were stressed out and on edge. It just wasn’t a good week, hence the kicking things and swearing. So I figured I’d give you all another story…
When we were 21, my best friend Val was pregnant. She was married, held a job til the baby came, and was in general a responsible adult. Thing about Val though, is she is this tiny elf-woman. She is just under 4 foot 9, and has long (naturally) blonde hair, and back then was about 100 pounds dripping wet. When she’s not dressed up, and when she is not wearing makeup, she looks about 14. I, on the other hand, am tall and large and have looked 30 since I was 18. I looked even older when dressed up for work. Well, one day, that combination had an interesting effect.
I was working that day, she was off (we both had mall jobs back then). She was maybe 6 or 7 months along, and she was wearing maternity overalls (girl started waddling at 2 months, started really showing at about 3.5 months). Her hair was down, and she was wearing very little makeup. She looked pregnant and tired. I was dressed up and earing makeup, since I was working. She came to meet me after work, and we went to the mall McDonald’s to grab some dinner. While we were waiting in line, I noticed there was this older woman who kept staring at us and giving me disapproving glances. I finally asked her what her problem was, and the exchange went something like this:
me: Can I help you with something?
her: *sour look* No. (pause) You must be so ashamed of your daughter.
me: (incredulous) Excuse me?
her: Pregnant so young. Shame!
me: Not that it is any of your business, but she’s *not* my daughter, she’s *older than I am* and she’s MARRIED!
At which point Val held up her left hand to display her wedding ring to the lady, and to the rest of the people who were now staring at us, and the lady sort of harumphed and walked away.
I’ve tried for the last seven years to make that be a funny memory, and it some ways it’s hysterical, but at the same time? Shut up, judgemental people. Keep your effing opinions to yourself, because usually you have no idea what you are talking about.
(okay, that last paragraph makes me sound like I’m still in a bad mood, but I’m really not)