I rounded a corner today, walking back to work from lunch, and almost got flattened by a brigade of women. They brandished their strollers like battering rams, shouting to one another as they flooded the narrow Boston sidewalk and forced all the other pedestrians out into the street. Ugh. Come on. I immediately knew I would never be one of them. As a mother, I will never be so inconsiderate. I’m going to dart my future (totally well-behaved) kid around in some super-sleek foldable contraption or wear her on my chest in an earth-mother sling. I even mentally drafted a funny Facebook status about the crazy space-invading moms as I rode the elevator back to my office (does anyone else do this? reflexively formulate every life event into 140 characters?).
Then I thought about my friend reading that status, the one who’s about to give birth to her second child in a few weeks. And how she would probably find it ridiculously insensitive…because it would be. I don’t know yet what it’s like to be those women…maybe they’re lonely stay at home moms, all hopped up on the Q because they finally get to see another adult human being. Maybe the last place they want to live out their mom-hood is downtown Boston (especially this intersection…yikes) but that’s where their partners work, and that’s just how it is. Maybe they wanted rockin jogging strollers but they’re more expensive than the bulky beast version.
What. Ever. What I’m saying is, I look with mad gratitude upon people who understand that being a law student is sometimes a trial (get it? yeah baby) even if my problems are all “first world.” Which of course they are. But I need to get outside myself a little (a lot) more.
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Plato
Bound 