Hot husband (HH) and I were at a party not that long ago. It's a party that we attend annually so we know most of the folks there. (Admittedly not very well but we run in the same circles as some of the peeps there.) ANYWHOOOOOOO...Every year it's the same people talking about the same stuff to the same people. Kinda boring if you ask me but it's for a good cause so we go. Besides I don't really get out that much anymore so I was excited about it this time. This is the first year that my story has changed. It changed drastically too. I left a great job at a fortune 200 company to stay home with our boys. The people that had heard came over to (what felt like) console me. "Oh wow- be that was rough." {{Ummm... not really since it was my decision.}} Those who didn't know asked for the obligatory "how's work going?" Jaws dropped when I told them that I left to stay home with my boys. I heard several things "In this economy, you left a good job like that? are you crazy?" and "You couldn't have just gone part time?" Yep,No and Nope. I left, I'm not crazy and I couldn't/didn't want to go part time. (I think mothering type magazines give an unrealistic view about it being easy to just ask/tell/expect your employer to let you work a full-time job with a part time schedule-but that's another topic all together)
I saw one woman's eyes nearly glaze over before I could even finish saying "I'm a stay at home mom now." She looked like a trapped rat looking for an escape route. This is the same person who in years past couldn't get enough of me. What I realized that night is that she couldn't get enough of the idea of me. This year I was different. A different person in her eyes. She wanted to run screaming- but since polite society looks down upon that (why? we should totally be allowed to do that when we don't want to talk to someone!) - she nodded, smiled and totally zoned out all the while trying to give appropriate interjections like: "mmmm" "ahhh" "bet that's different." Her date looked equally as uninterested and lucky for all of us they were saved by another couple. Lucky for them because clearly they didn't want to hear my story and lucky for me because I really didn't care to tell them. Not for any other reason than that they didn't want to hear it. All that to say that some people don't know how to talk to you once you are no longer the "you" that they know. Or that they thought they knew. Because folks that really know me know that I've always wanted to stay home with my boys.
Who wouldn't want to spend as much time with these two munchkins as humanly possible? Annoying party lady obviously!
I saw one woman's eyes nearly glaze over before I could even finish saying "I'm a stay at home mom now." She looked like a trapped rat looking for an escape route. This is the same person who in years past couldn't get enough of me. What I realized that night is that she couldn't get enough of the idea of me. This year I was different. A different person in her eyes. She wanted to run screaming- but since polite society looks down upon that (why? we should totally be allowed to do that when we don't want to talk to someone!) - she nodded, smiled and totally zoned out all the while trying to give appropriate interjections like: "mmmm" "ahhh" "bet that's different." Her date looked equally as uninterested and lucky for all of us they were saved by another couple. Lucky for them because clearly they didn't want to hear my story and lucky for me because I really didn't care to tell them. Not for any other reason than that they didn't want to hear it. All that to say that some people don't know how to talk to you once you are no longer the "you" that they know. Or that they thought they knew. Because folks that really know me know that I've always wanted to stay home with my boys.
Who wouldn't want to spend as much time with these two munchkins as humanly possible? Annoying party lady obviously!
Photo credit to SC Photography
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