Unexpected

On two separate occasions within the last month, someone has accused me of being pregnant. Not asked if I was pregnant...actually put an assertion out there, seeking immediate and public confirmation. “You’re pregnant!..You must be!...I knew it!” And then, after hearing my denial, they followed up with an even more emphatic, “Yeah right…You’re pregnant.”

 And what did I do to earn this line of “questioning”? I drank a sparkling water at a party when everyone else had wine. That’s it. That’s all it took for my reproductive status to be put on blast. (Well, that, and maaaaaaaybe that I looked a little chubby in my outfit that day but I’m not really interested in entertaining that explanation).

On one hand, I understand the curiosity. I understand that it potentially comes from an excited, eager-to-celebrate kind of place. But on the other hand: no thank you. No thank you to the questions and the pressure and the expectations and the feelings and the justifications that come with a personal question forced on me in a public setting.

Maybe I am pregnant. Maybe I’m not. Maybe I wish I was. Maybe I don’t want to be. Maybe I used to be. Maybe I can’t be.

Maybe I’m doing a cleanse. Maybe I have a drinking problem. Maybe I ate too many tacos. Maybe I’m wearing an unflattering jumpsuit. 

Maybe it’s complicated. Maybe it’s sensitive. Maybe it’s not. But you don’t know. You don’t know how your comment might make me feel. You don’t know how I might hear it based on a thousand other things that you don't know. Slapping a presumption on me...especially in front of others, forcing me to process my thoughts with an audience isn't fair.

Please though...care about me. Take an interest in me. Ask me questions. I'm about as open as they come, and live to dive deep with people. So by all means...

Let's talk about babies, and how they're the most lovely version of impossible.
Let's talk about fertility and infertility, and how we had no idea how nuanced and miraculous and heart-wrenching it all can be.
Let's talk about balance and other such unicorns.
Let's talk about motherhood, and how it breaks your heart a thousand times and puts it back together in a way you didn't know was possible.
Let's talk about self-worth, self-care, and self-love, and how to cultivate them in all of our circumstances.
Let's talk about opposites living inside of a single body and soul; how you can want and not want something at the same exact time; how you can feel anxious and hopeful, terrified and ecstatic, longing and fulfilled.

Let's talk about all of it. Maybe with some sodas, after the party.

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