I've had a lot of exposure to mothers lately. Babysitting my nephews has brought me into the realm of young motherhood, where women live to cart their children around to various activities. This morning, T-ball. I sat on my blanket, keeping one eye on my two-year-old nephew as he ran around a tree, and one eye on my six-year-old nephew as he ran around playing ball, which left both of my ears open to hear the conversations around me.
"I swear, he's grown three inches since last week! He's outgrown his pajamas, and now he's always cold downstairs because the bottoms only come down to his calves!"
"Well, I had to take ____ to dance class, and then run ____ here to play ball..."
"My boy wakes up early no matter what time he goes to bed. He went to sleep at 10:30 last night, and was awake at 5 a.m. because he had a bad dream!"
I'm on the edge. I don't really belong to the club. I'm only a part-timer--watching my nephews during the day twice a week. The other moms ignore me on my blanket as they sit in their lawn chairs and gab about dentist appointments and parent-teacher conferences. They don't recognize me (although I know I'll see them at swimming lessons in an hour). They call my nephews by name but don't ask for mine. The only time they acknowledge me is when their nine-month-old daughter crawls towards my lap or their 3-year-old son swings a bat a little too close to my head. Even then, it's a quick smile as they gather up their offspring and return them to the safety of their strollers and tot chairs.
I'm not a mother...but my name is Andrea.
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october sunrise at ebenezer
thoughts from a teacher and a girl far from home
october sunrise at ebenezer
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4 comments:
This feels like it belongs in AA (Aunts Anonymous): Hello, Andrea.
I can't join, but I'll say it anyway. :-)
You know, I've had similar experiences this summer, as I've been babysitting a 5 year old who goes to junior kindergarten in the afternoon. Everyone gets there early and plays outside for ten minutes before the bell rings, and all the moms (mostly, and a few dads) sit around and chat it up, about their kids and how great they are, and what they're into now, and most of them have babies too, and I just stand there feeling terribly out of place. They, too, have yet to acknowledge my presence, after 2 months. (Someone did smile at me on the last day of school, though.)
Egads.
life on this kind of edge isn't all that exciting. :-) i haven't figured out what happens next. maybe we'll all find out together.
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