It didn't really occur to me until today that there is this whole world of people with babies and they have this culture that I also hadn't noticed.
Some friends of mine had a party today for their daughter's first birthday. I was one of only two people there who either didn't have a child or weren't about to become a parent. So I definitely felt weird.
Amid all the congratulations as others who had just had a baby arrived and were greeted I observed that this segment of the community was one I had largely overlooked. And they all behave so strangely. They talk about how all their kids are going to grow up together and how the boys are going to ignore or be intimidated by the girls until they are teenagers when they'll suddenly take note.
There was talk of breast feeding, sleepless nights, planning for more kids when the financial situation is kinder and a bizarre game of pass the parcel that only about three kids actually actively took part in (the mothers substituted for those unable to tear open newspaper).
Then there was the presents, which was definitely more for the benefit of the parents.
Pardon the cynicism, everyone that I know there are very nice and my friends but they turned into different people. At one point I was left holding a random child and very grateful when I was able to hand him back.
I had a fine afternoon but it was all a bit surreal. I'm not against kids, in many ways it'd be great to have them (other things come before that though, naturally) but I was very pleased to be able to come home to a house with no babies!
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