Introductions

How Do You Do? I'm Me.

Over at Chez Miscarriage, Getupgrrl is preparing for the arrival of her son and finding out that some people are a little... er... different when they're about to have a kid.

No, you probably can't imagine my amazement as women who had already named their children introduced themselves as "Sierra's mommy," and women who hadn't named their children (but who knew the gender of their children) introduced themselves as "mommy to this precious baby boy," and the rest of the women introduced themselves as "mommy-to-be on [due date]" - all without ever revealing their own first names.

Sitting in the corner, I felt like Admiral James Stockdale at a mother's plagroup: "Who am I? What am I doing here?"

My mom and I bear a rather striking resemblance to one another. It is strong enough that on rare occasions I have been asked by a complete stranger to me if I was my mother's daughter and vice versa. When I was in junior high, my mom realized that the girl previously known as "Carole's daughter" had become "Jill" and she had inversely become "Jill's Mom."

When she realized this, she started responding to, "Oh, you must be Jill's mom," with a cheerful smile and a polite, "Yes, and a person in my own right."

So, as someone who is alternatively, "John's Wife," "Carole/Jeff's daughter," "Nina's Granddaughter," "Jim and Ernestine's Daughter-in-Law," "Brian's Stepsister," etc., I would like to add, "Yes. And a person in my own right."

Posted: Thursday - June 30, 2005 at 06:09 AM | |